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The American Government. 



BIOGRAPHIES 

OF THE 

PRESIDENT, VICE-PRESIDENT, AND CABINET, 
THE SUPREME COURT, 

AND 

SENATORS OF THE UNITED STATES, 

FOR THE PERIOD 

1873 — 1877. 

BY 

WILLIAM HORATIO^BARNES. 



WITH PORTRAITS ON STEEL. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. : 

W. H. BARNES & CO., PUBLISHERS, 

328 Indiana Avenue. 



hi 



d en 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1875, 

By WILLIAM H. BARNES, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. O. 



THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 



The Confederation which existed between the States at the close 
of the Revolution, though it had subserved a great purpose, yet was 
lacking in stability and strength ; hence Congress recommended a 
convention of delegates to devise a better form of government. All 
the States, except Rhode Island, acceded to the proposal, and ap- 
pointed delegates, who assembled in general convention in Phila- 
delphia, in May, 1787. This convention, which was presided over 
by George Washington, presented a very rare combination of the 
best talents, experience, and patriotism which the country afforded, 
and consequently commanded universal public confidence. After 
several months of deliberation the convention agreed, with unprece- 
dented unanimity, on the plan of government which now forms the 
Constitution of the United States, and it was speedily adopted by 
the several States which formed the original American Union. 

The government thus ordained, which was organized on the 4th 
of March, 1789, consists of three departments, the Executive, the 
Legislative, and the Judiciary, among which were distributed the 
powers conferred by the people of the several States upon the 
National government. This division of powers was considered 
essential to the preservation of the rights and liberties of the 
people ; therefore, in the construction of the departments they were 
made co-ordinate and independent. 

The Executive power is vested in the President of the United 
States. There have been twenty-two successive quadrennial elec- 
tions to fill this high office, which has been held by eighteen dis- 
tinguished citizens. While their powers and responsibilities have 
been immense, very few have been charged, even by their enemies, 
with having abused or transcended their constitutional authority. 
No nation has ever had a succession of so many rulers of equal intel- 
lectual ability and purity of personal character. 
3 



4 INTRODUCTION. 

The Judicial authority is vested in one Supreme Court and 
such inferior courts as Congress may ordain and establish. Con- 
gress may abolish the courts which it ordains and substitute others, 
but it cannot abolish the Supreme Court. This is a court of higher 
dignity and wider jurisdiction than any other in the world. Its 
jurisdiction extends to suits in which a State or the United States 
is a party. It expounds the Constitution, and decides upon the 
validity of statutes passed by Congress, and by the State Legisla- 
tures, declaring them void if they conflict with the Constitution of 
the United Slates. It decides finally between State laws and the 
laws of Congress when in conflict. Its power extends to all cases 
of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, and by virtue of this au- 
thority it decides questions of international law. 

The Supreme Court, as at present constituted, consists of one 
Chief Justice and eight Associate Justices. Previous to the acces- 
sion of the present judges, the Supreme Bench had been occupied by 
six Chief Justices and thirty Associate Justices. The incumbents 
of these high positions have been chosen from among the brightest 
ornaments of the profession of the law. In legal learning, general 
talents, and personal character, the Supreme Court of the United 
State-, as at present constituted, is fully equal to any that has pre- 
ceded. 

The Legislative power is vested in a Congress of the United 
States, which consists of a Senate and House of Representatives. 
The Senate tries the political offences which the House of Repre- 
sentatives submits to its decision. It also acts as the great 
executive council of the nation; the treaties which arc concluded 
by the President must be ratified by the Senate; and the ap- 
pointments he may make must be approved by the same body. 
It has the right of annulling certain acts of the President; but 
it cannot compel him to take any steps, nor does it participate in 
the exercise of executive power. The House of Representatives, 
eleeted directly by the people once in two years, is the popular branch 
of the government. It commands, as it deserves, the respect of its 
immense constituency, now numbering forty millions, for the ability, 
wisdom, and patriotism with which it has generally met its grave 
responsibilities. 



THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT. 



THE EXECUTIVE. 

, ULYSSES S. GRANT, President of the United States, . 

[ HENRY WILSON, Vice-President, .... 
HAMILTON FISH, Secretary of State, .... 
WILLIAM A. RICHARDSON, Secretary of the Treasury, 
BENJAMIN H. BRISTOW, Secretary of the Treasury, . 
WILLIAM W. BELKNAP, Secretary of War, 
GEORGE M. ROBESON, Secretary of the Navy, 
COLUMBUS DELANO, Secretary of the Interior, , 
JOHN A. J. CRESWELL, Postmaster-General, 
MARSHALL JEWELL, Postmaster-General, . 
GEORGE H. WILLIAMS, Attorney-General,. 
EDWARDS PIERREPONT, Attorney-General, 



PAGE 
11 
27 

35 

39 

43 

45 

47 

49 

53 i 

55 

57 

59 



THE SUPREME COURT. 



I MORRISON R. WAITE, Chief Justice, 65 

NATHAN CLIFFORD, Associate Justice, 73 

NOAH H SWAYNE, Associate Justice, 79 

SAMUEL F. MILLER, Associate Justice, 83 

DAVID DAVIS, Associate Justice 89 

~i STEPHEN J. FIELD, Associate Justice 95 

WILLIAM STRONG, Associate Justice, 101 

.KiSKPH P. BRADLEY, Associate Justice, 107 

^ WARD HUNT, Associate Justice, 113 

5 



CONTENTS. 



THE SENATE. 

PAGE 

I SIMON CAMERON 119 

HANNIBAL HAMLIN, 121 

. CHARLES SUMNER, 126 

ZACIIARIAH CHANDLER, 135 

HENRY B. ANTHONY 139 

LOT M. MORRILL, 141 

| TIMOTHY O. HOWE, 143 

i JOHN SHERMAN, 151 

ALEXANDER RAMSEY, 155 

WILLIAM SPRAGUE, 163 

WILLIAM M.STEWART, 107 

AARON H. CRAGIN, 169 

GEORGE F. EDMUNDS, 171 

ROSCOE CONKLING, 173 

JUSTIN S. MORRILL, 175 

OLIVER P. MORTON, 170 

ORRIS S. FERRY, 191 

FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN, 195 

THOMAS W. TIPTON, 197 

THOMAS J. ROBERTSON, 199 

, GEORGE E. SPENCER 201 

A UK LB ERT AMES, 203 

THOMAS F. BAYARD 205 

ARTHUR I. BOREMAN, 207 

WILLIAM G BROWNLOW, 209 

WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM, 215 

MATTHEW H. CARPENTER, 217 

EUGENE CASSERLY, 221 

REUBEN E. FENTON, 223 

JOHN W. FLANAGAN, 227 

ABIJAH GILBERT 229 

WILLIAM T. HAMILTON, 231 

JOHN F.LEWIS ' 233 

DANIEL D. PRATT, 237 

CARL SCHURZ, 241 

JOHN SCOTT 247 



CONTENTS. 7 

PAGE 

JOHN P. STOCKTON 251 

ALLEN G. THURMAN, 253 

MORGAN C. HAMILTON, 255 

JAMES L. ALCORN, 257 

POWELL CLAYTON, 259 

HENRY COOPER 261 

HENRY G. DAVIS, 263 

THOMAS W. FERRY, 265 

PHINEAS W. HITCHCOCK, 271 

JOHN W. JOHNSTON, 273 

JOHN A. LOGAN, 275 

THOMAS M. NORWOOD, 281 

JAMES K. KELLY 283 

M ATT. W. RANSOM, 287 

ELI SAULSBURY 289 

JOHN W. STEVENSON, 291 

JOSEPH R. WEST 295 

WILLIAM WINDOM, .297 

GEORGE G. WRIGHT 299 

RICHARD J. OGLESBY, 301 

GEORGE GOLDTHWAITE, 304 

WILLIAM B.ALLISON, 305 

LOUIS V. BOGY, 309 

GEORGE S. BOUTWELL, 313 

SIMON B. CONOVER, 317 

GEORGE R. DENNIS, 319 

STEPHEN W. DORSEY, 321 

JOHN B. GORDON, 323 

JOHN J. 1NGALLS, 329 

JOHN P. JONES, 331 

THOMAS C. McCREERY, 335 

AUGUSTUS S. MERRIMON, 337 

JOHN H. MITCHELL, 339 

JOHN J. PATTERSON, 341 

AARON A. SARGENT, 343 

BAINBRIDGE WADLEIGH, 347 

JOHN S. HAGER, 349 

JAMES M. HARVEY, 353 



8 CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

HIRAM R. PEASE, 350 

WILLIAM B. WASHBURN, 357 

AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE, 359 

NEWTON BOOTH, 365 

B. K. BRUCE 367 

ANGUS CAMERON, 369 

ALLEN T. CAPERTON, 371 

ISAAC P. CHRISTIANCY, 373 

FRANCIS M. COCKRELL, 375 

WILLIAM SHARON, 377 

ROBERT E. WITHERS, .*.... 379 

WILLIAM W. EATON, 381 

CHARLES W. JONES, 383 

FRANCIS KERNAN, 385 

JOSEPH E. McDONALD, 387 

SAMUEL J. R. McMILLAN, 389 

SAMUEL B. MAXEY, 391 

ALGERNON S. PADDOCK, 393 

THEODORE F. RANDOLPH, 395 

WILLIAM A. WALLACE, 397 

WILLIAM PINKNEY WHYTE, 399 

HENRY L. DAWES, 401 



THE EXECUTIVE. 




ULYSSES S. GRANT, 

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 



'LYSSES S. GEANT was born in Point Pleasant, Ohio, 
April 27, 1822. His parents were of Scotch extrac- 
tion, and had settled in Ohio several years before the 
birth of their eldest son. He received his early education 
by attending at intervals the village school. The first book which 
his mother put into his hands after he had learned to read was 
Weems's Life of Washington, which made a deep impression upon 
his mind. 

On the first of July, 1839, at the age of seventeen, he entered the 
West Point Military Academy as a cadet. Owing to limited op- 
portunities for early preparation his course was by no means easy, 
but he applied himself diligently, making steady and satisfactory 
progress. In French, Drawing, and Mathematics he was very pro- 
ficient, and as a rider he was the best in the institution. He was 
popular with his comrades, who regarded him as a yonth ot marked 
common sense, who performed his duties quietly, without ostenta- 
tion or display. Having completed his four years' course, he 
graduated in 18-43, at the age of twenty-one. tie was immediately 
appointed to the Fourth Infantry, and in 1844 was ordered to Texas 
to watch the Mexican army. In the spring of 1845 he shared in 
the glories of Palo Alto, Kesaea de la Palma, and Monterey. At 
the battle of Molino del Rey, and during the remainder of the 
operations before the city of Mexico, he behaved with such gal- 
lantry that he was promoted to Brevet First Lieutenant, and for 
his courage at the battle of Chapultepec lie was shortly afterward 
promoted to a Brevet Captaincy. 

Immediately after the close of the Mexican war Captain Grant 
returned to the United States, and shortly thereafter he married 
11 



8 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

Miss Julia B. Dent, daughter of Colonel Frederick Dent, of St. 
Louis. In 1852 he was ordered to the Pacific Coast, and while 
serving in Oregon he was promoted to a full Captaincy. In 1854, 
finding a soldier's life wearisome in those wilds, he resigned his 
commission and returned to the East. His father-in-law having 
presented his wife with a farm near St. Louis, he built a log house 
upon it for his family, and applied himself with industry to the 
cultivation of the soil. After four years of constant, hut not very 
profitable, labor he gave up farming, and removed to Galena, 
Illinois, where he became a partner with his father and a brother 
in the leather trade. He devoted himself to his new business with 
the same energy which had marked his career as a soldier and a 
farmer. The firm of " Grant & Suns" soon acquired an excellent 
reputation among business men throughout the State. 

When the national flag was tired on at Fort Sumter, Grant's 
patriotism and military ardor were aroused together. "I have 
served my country through one war,'' he said to a friend, "and, live 
or die, will serve her through this." He immediately began recruit- 
ing ami drilling a company in the streets of Galena, and in four 
davs after Lincoln's call for seventy-five thousand men he went 
with it to Springfield. Governor Yates, feeling the need of his 
military education and experience in organizing the army of volun- 
teers assembling at Springfield, at once appointed him Adjutant- 
General of the State. In this position his services were 
invaluable. 

It was soon evident that his military talents were of so high an 
order as to demand for him active service in the held. On the 
15th day of June, 1861, he received a commission as Colonel of the 
Twenty-first Regiment of Illinois Volunteers. Information having 
been received that the guerillas of Missouri threatened Quiney, on 
the Mississippi, Grant was ordered to the exposed point, marching 
his regiment one hundred and twenty miles for lack of transporta- 
tion. From Quincy he was ordered to a point on the Missouri 
River to guard the Hannibal and Hudson Railroad. In this service 
there was little opportunity for distinction, nevertheless he showed 
12 



ULYSSES ». GRANT. 9 

such efficiency that he was soon after promoted to the rank of 
Brigadier-General. 

In September General Grant was placed in command of the dis- 
trict of South-east Missouri, with his head-quarters at Cairo, Illinois. 
Hearing of Polk's intention of investing Paducah, Kentucky, he 
immediately fitted up an expedition, and on the 5th of September 
steamed up the river. He landed two regiments and a battery, 
and, without tiring a shot, took possession of Paducah. He im- 
mediately issued a proclamation in which he urged the people to 
pursue their usual avocations without alarm, assuring them that 
he had come among them "not as an enemy but as a fellow- 
citizen." 

Satisfied that the enemy was gathering troops and supplies at 
Columbus for operations in Missouri, Grant, on the 6th of Novem- 
ber, embarked Ids forces, and dropped down to Island Number One, 
eleven miles above Columbus. The troops landed on the Missouri 
shore, and marched about three miles to Belmont, where the rebels 
occupied a camp strongly intrenched. Grant moved on their 
works, and while at the head of the skirmish line had his horse 
shot under him. The tight was very severe for about four hours, 
but finally General Grant ordered a charge, and drove the enemy 
through their encampment. Thonsands of them took refuge on 
their transports, but many prisoners were taken, and all their 
artillery was captured. After this success, when General Grant 
was marching his forces back to the transports, he was intercepted 
by a large rebel force from Columbus who were confident of cutting 
off his return to the river. "We are surrounded," excitedly ex- 
claimed an aide riding up. "Very well," said General Grant, 
- we must cut our way out as we cut our way in. We have 
whipped them once, and I think we can do it again." They did 
cut their way through thirteen regiments of infantry and three 
squadrons of cavalry. They regained their boats and returned to 
Cairo, after having taken one hundred and fifty prisoners, and de- 
^roved much material of war. 

On the first of February, L862, the War Department ordered 
13 



10 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

the reduction of Fort Henry, on the Tennessee River, and Fort 
Donelson, on the Cumberland, for the purpose of establishing points 
of operation against Memphis. Columbus, and Nashville. This 
duty was assigned to General Grant, with a land force of seventeen 
thousand men, and to Commodore Foote, with a fleet of seventeen 
gunboats. Fort Henry with seventeen heavy guns, and garrisoned by 
twenty-eight hundred men, was captured on the 6th of February. 

Early on the morning of the 12th General Grant, with eight light 
batteries and a main column of fifteen thousand men, commenced his 
march to Fort Donelson, twelve miles across the country. Fort 
Donelson was situated on a rocky eminence which commanded the 
rivei for several miles above and below. Numerous batteries, pro- 
tected by strong works, threw thirty-two and sixty-four pound shot 
Bastions, rifle-pits, and abatis opposed every approach. Twenty 
thousand soldiers manned the works, commanded by Generals 
Buckner, Pillow, and Floyd. Before noon on the 12th the rebel 
]>ickets were driven in by Grant's advance, and before dark the fort 
was invested on all its land sides. The next day, with continuous 
skirmishing, the investment was drawn closer to the works. On the 
following day the enemy made a vigorous attack, which was re- 
pulsed. General Grant ordered a charge, which was vigorously 
made, and after a fierce struggle he gained a part of the intreiich- 
ments. Under cover of the night two of the rebel generals, with as 
many of their troops as could be embarked on steamers, abandoned 
the fort and ascended the river. Early on the following morning 
General Buckner dispatched a note to General Grant proposing an 
armistice in which to consider terms of capitulation. General 
Grant replied. "No terms except unconditional and immediate sur- 
render can be accepted. I propose to move immediately on your 
works." Buckner made haste to accept the terms imposed. Ten 
thousand prisoners of war, sixty -five guns, seventeen thousand six 
hundred small arms, with an immense amount of military stores, 
fell into the hands of the victors. 

This brilliant victory, penetrating, as it did, the rebel line of de- 
fense west of the Alleghany Mountains, occasioned great rejoicing 
14 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 11 

throughout the North. Secretary Stanton recommended General 
Grant for a Major-General's commission. President Lincoln nomi- 
nated liiiu to the Senate the same day. The Senate at once con- 
firmed the nomination. The new military district of Tennessee 
was now assigned him. 

The successful General did not rest idly upon his laurels. Pie 
took immediate possession of Nashville, on the Cumberland, but 
established his headquarters at Fort Henry, that he might also con- 
trol the Tennessee River. It was deemed important to dislodge a 
large force of the enemy concentrating at Corinth. For this pur- 
pose General Grant, with thirty-five thousand men, ascended the 
Tennessee River to Pittsburg Landing. There they were disem- 
barked to await the arrival of General Buell, who was marching 
from Nashville to join them with a force of forty thousand. 
Johnston, the rebel General, in command at Corinth, resolved to 
throw his whole force of seventy thousand men upon Grant and 
annihilate his army before he could be joined by Buell. 

Early on the morning of the 6th of April, 1862, the rebel army 
suddenly and unexpectedly attacked the Union troops. Although 
our forces fought with desperation, they were driven nearly three 
miles with dreadful carnage on both sides. Night terminated a 
day of disaster to the Union arms. The rebel general telegraphed 
the news of his success to Richmond. He had no doubt of an easy 
and complete victory on the morrow. General Grant, however, 
never despaired of the result. No thought of ultimate defeat 
seemed to enter his mind. During the night he reorganized his 
broken forces, and formed a new line of battle. Twenty thousand 
of General Buell's troops, arriving after dark, were placed in posi- 
tion for the coining conflict. Relying upon the remainder of 
Buell's army for a reserve, he disposed all his available force for 
immediate action. With the dawn of day the national army along 
its whole line moved upon the astonished enemy with an impetu- 
osity inspired by confidence of victory. All day the conflict raged 
with terrific fury, and at night the discomfited foe retreated to 
their intrenchments at Corinth, having lost nearly twenty thousand 
15 



12 ULYS9ES S. GRANT. 

men. General Grant's loss was over twelve thousand men. This 
victory, though costly, was of inestimable value to the Union cause, 
giving, as it did, our armies the key to a large extent of the 
southern country, and opening the Mississippi to Memphis. 

The Union forces then advanced to the siege of Corinth, where 
the enemy had strongly intrenched themselves. They abandoned 
the place before the advance of the national forces, who occupied 
their works. General Grant made Memphis his headquarters, 
wlieu he took immediate and successful measures to suppress the 
crafty secessionists and unscrupulous traders who infested that city. 
He put negroes to useful employment, and in a short time, under 
his wise administration, order and security reigned. On the 17th 
of September General Grant made an advance on the enemy at 
Iuka. After a stubborn resistance they evacuated that place on 
the night of the 19th. On the .'Id of October the enemy, number- 
ing forty thousand, attacked Grant's defenses at Corinth, but after 
a sanguinary conflict, lasting until noon of the 4th, the rebels re- 
treated, leaving their dead and wounded on the held. On the 8th 
of October General Grant received a congratulatory order from 
President Lincoln. Envious of the successful general, a lew days 
after the victory of Corinth certain persons waited on President 
Lincoln and accused him of being a drunkard. After patiently 
listening to the story, he replied, " 1 wish all my generals would 
drink Grant's whisky." 

The next great military movement was made upon Vieksburg, 
where the enemy, strongly fortified, commanded the Mississippi. 
General Grant had full power given him to accomplish in his own 
way the capture of this stronghold. By a series of masterly move 
merits he concentrated an army of fifty thousand men on the land 
side, in a line extending from the Yazoo above to the Mississippi 
below the town. Commodore Porter, with a fleet of sixty vessels 
carrying two hundred and eighty guns, and eight hundred men, 
was directed to co-operate from the river. 

The siege which followed was one of the most memorable in 
history. It began early in February, 1863, and during the months 
16 . 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 13 

it was protracted scarcely a day passed without a sanguinary battle. 
Shot and shell from the gunboats and batteries compelled the in- 
habitants to burrow in the hillsides for security. Assaults by the 
national troops were repulsed with such terrible loss that it seemed 
the only hope of reducing the stronghold was in regular siege 
operations. 

Iu the progress of the siege a mine was dug under one of the 
most important batteries of the enemy and charged with two 
thousand pounds of powder. At length, on the 25th of June, 
1S65, the mine was ready to do its work of destruction. The ex- 
plosion was to be the signal for a simultaneous attack by land and 
water. At three o'clock in the afternoon the mine exploded, and 
immediately, over a line of twelve miles in length, the storm of 
battle opened upon the city with intense fury. 

But the defense was as determined as the assault, and the doomed 
city still held out. When General Grant was asked if he could 
take the place, he replied, " Certainly. I cannot tell exactly when 
I shall take the town, but I mean to stay here till I do, if it takes 
me thirty years." 

The final assault was to take place on the 4th of July, but on 
the day before a white flag appeared on the rebel works, and soon 
after two officers came out with a communication from Pemberton 
proposing an armistice for arranging terms of surrender. Grant 
replied that "unconditional surrender" only would be accepted. 
General Pemberton, hoping to obtain more favorable terms, urged 
a personal interview. The two generals met at three o'clock under 
an oak-tree less than two hundred feet from the rebel lines. Grant 
adhered to his demand, and the rebel commander, knowing that 
further resistance would be vain, after conferring with his officers 
accepted the terms imposed. At ten o'clock on the morning of the 
( sighty-seventh anniversary of American Independence, white flags 
were raised along the rebel lines announcing their surrender. 
General Grant, with his staff, at the head of his army, entered the 
city and took possession of the works so gloriously won. The sur- 
render included one hundred and seventy-two cannon and over 
17 



14 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

thirty thousand prisoners of war. The fall of Vicksburg was the 
most disastrous blow which had thus far been inflicted on the re- 
bellion. Its immediate effect was to open the Mississippi from 
Cairo to the Gulf. 

General Grant would have moved immediately upon Mobile, 
but he received orders from Washington to co-operate with General 
Banks in a movement upon Texas. Accordingly, on the 30th of 
August he left Vicksburg for New Orleans. In that city he was 
thrown from his horse, receiving injuries which disabled him for 
months. 

In East Tennessee affairs were not moving prosperously for the 
Union cause. The battle of Chickaniauga had resulted in the loss 
to the national troops of sixteen thousand men. They took posi- 
tion behind their intrenchments at Chattanooga, their lines of 
communication were cut off, and they were threatened with de- 
struction by a rebel force of eighty thousand men. In this emer 
gency General Grant was. on the lGth of October, 1863, assigned 
to the command of the Military Division of the Mississippi, in- 
cluding the Departments of the Ohio, the Cumberland, and the 
Tennessee. On the 19th of October he telegraphed to General 
Thomas, " Hold Chattanooga at all hazards. I will be there as 
soon as possible." On the evening of the 23d he entered Chat- 
tanooga, and his arrival at once put a new aspect upon affairs. 
At once he applied himself with immense energy to the work of 
making sure his lines of communication, hastening reinforcements, 
and securing supplies. " The enemy," said the " Eichmond En- 
quirer," " were out-fought at Chickaniauga, but the present position 
of affairs looks as though we had been out-generaled at Chat- 
tanooga." 

General Sherman, with the Fifteenth Army Corps, had marched 
his army from the Mississippi as rapidly as possible. At midnight, 
on the 23d of November, he crossed the Tennessee, above Chat- 
tanooga, and took a position to attack the enemy's right north of 
Missionary Ridge. The next day General Hooker stormed Lookout 
Mountain, on the enemy's extreme left, and gained a brilliant 
18 



L'L l SSES S. GRANT. 



L5 



victory in the memorable "battle above the clouds." The next 
day the battle was opened along the whole line, the main attack 
being at the center, from an elevation where General Grant took 
position. The Union forces, led by generals whose names have 
become immortal, fought with a patriotic ardor which has never 
been surpassed. For miles the mountains and valleys were ablaze 
with the lightning of battle. The conflict raged with terrific fury 
during all the hours of that memorable day, but when night came 
the national flag floated over all the works which the enemy had 
held with so much apparent security in the morning. General 
Grant telegraphed to Washington, " Lookout Mountain top, all the 
rifle-pits in Chattanooga Valley, and Missionary Ridge entire, have 
been carried and are now held by us." 

This brilliant victory was one of the most decisive steps toward 
the final overthrow of the rebellion. The scale in the west turned 
irretrievably against the Confederacy when its armies were hurled 
from the summits of Look-out Mountain and Missionary Ridge. 
Still General Grant did not rest. He pursued the routed foe to- 
ward Atlanta, capturing thousands of prisoners, and securing im- 
mense supplies. 

General Grant had now three vast armies under his command, 
occupying over a thousand miles in extent. Feeling the weight of 
responsibilities resting upon him, he wished to acquaint himself 
personally with the condition of his command. In mid-winter, 
through storms and drifting snows which incumbered the mountain 
passeB, on horseback he visited the outposts of his army through an 
extent of country from Knoxville, on the one hand, to St. Louis on 
the other. 

A grateful country honored the soldier whose vigorous blows had 
told so terribly on the rebellion. A resolution was passed in Con- 
gress presenting the thanks of that body to General Grant and the 
officers and soldiers under his command. A gold medal was 
ordered to be struck off and presented to General Grant. On the 
4th of February, 1864, Congress revived the rank of Lieutenant- 
General, which was conferred upon General Grant. He was sum- 
19 



16 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 



moned to Washington to receive his credentials, and to enter upon 
the command of all the armies of the United States. As he made 
his rapid journey to the capital multitudes gathered at every rail- 
road station to catch a gliinse of the man whose achievements sur- 
passed those of any other living General. He was received by 
President Lincoln with cordiality characteristic of a noble soul in 
which no spark of jealousy ever found a lodgment. 

On the 9th of March, in the executive mansion, in the presence 
of the Cabinet and other distinguished persons, General Grant 
received his commission as Lieutenant-General. President Lincoln 
having uttered some appropriate words of congratulation, General 
Grant replied : 

"Mr. President, I accept this commission with gratitude for the 
high honor conferred. With the aid of the noble armies who have 
fought in so many battles for our common country, it will be my 
earnest endeavor not to disappoint your expectations. I feel the 
full weight of the responsibility now devolving upon me. I know 
that if it is properly met it will be due to these armies, and above 
all to the favor of that Providence which leads both nations and 
men." 

General Grant now concentrated all his energies upon the work 
of crushing the rebellion and terminating the war by the destruc- 
tion of the rebel armies. He determined to concentrate the armies 
of the United States in a general attack upon the Confederate 
capital. The veteran Generals of the Union, with their splendid 
commands of tried soldiers, were assigned their several parts in 
the impending struggle. 

General Grant established his head-quarters with the army of 
the Potomac, which was encamped among the hills north of the 
Rapidan. Here he massed all his available forces preparatory to 
an attack upon General Lee, who occupied the south side of the 
river with as brave an army as ever went to battle. 

At midnight, on the third of May, 1864, General Grant left his 
camp with an army oue hundred and fifty thousand strong, and 
crossed the Rapidan a few miles below the intrenchments of the 

20 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 17 

enemy. In three columns the army penetrated the Wilderness, 
hoping by a flank movement to gain the rear of the enemy. At 
noon on the 5th General Lee, with an immense force, suddenly 
emerged from the forest, and fell upon the center of Grant's ex- 
tended line, hoping to cut it in two, and then destroy each part 
piece-meal. The battle raged with tremendous fury during the 
remainder of the day, and when night came no less than six thou- 
sand had fallen between the two armies on the bloody Held. 

At the rising of the morrow's sun the battle was renewed. No 
army ever had a braver or more determined foe. The forest was 
ablaze with the fire of battle in the face of the enemy, who contested 
every inch of ground, but by nightfall had been driven back tw< 
miles from where the battle opened in the morning. The third 
day of the battle of the Wilderness was distinguished by the retreat 
of the enemy toward his intrenchments near Spottsylvania Conrl 
house. After a series of bloody battles extending through the en 
tire day, the rebels reached their intrenchments in the night. Early 
on the following morning, which was Sunday, General Grant fel 
upon their works, and after a long day of battle the enemy vvere 
driven from their first line of intrenchments with the loss of 
twenty-five hundred prisoners. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednes 
day the battle raged with constantly augmenting fury. The lattci 
day was signalized by fourteen hours of unremitting battle, and at 
its close General Grant, after announcing to the Government tin 
results achieved, added, " I propose to fight it out on this Urn >/ v 
takes all summer." 

During the night the national troops marched by another llai.l- 
movement, and before dawn had gained a series of ridges two miles 
bevond the Spottsylvania Court house. But the enemy, ever on 
the alert, had already manned intrenchments before them which 
had previously been prepared to resist any such movement toward 
Richmond. General Grant attacked their intrenchments, but they 
were too strong to be taken by assault. At night he sent a force 
of cavalry ten miles forward to seize a station on the Richmond 
and Fredericksburg Railroad, and in the morning the whole army 
21 



18 ULYSSES S GRANT. 

followed. 'By this advance of General Grant the rebels were left 
nearly twelve miles in his rear. General Lee was alarmed. lie 
feared that his line of communication might be cut off, and that 
General Grant might take the Confedederate capital without his 
being able to strike a blow in its defense. In haste he abandoned 
his position, and hastened toward another line of defense on the 
banks of the North Anna river. Both armies moved rapidly by 
parallel lines until they confronted each other on the banks of the 
"North Anna, within forty miles of Richmond. Here Leo being 
io< strongly intrenched to be successfully attacked, General Grant, 
concealing his purpose b}* a strong demonstration, inarched rapidly 
to a point on the Pamunky river, within fourteen miles of Rich- 
mond. He crossed the Pamunky, and on Wednesday morning, 
June 1, he was with his army at Cold Harbor face to face with the 
aimy of General Lee, now concentrated behind the defenses of 
Richmond. These works, bristling with guns-, were achievements 
of the highest engineering skill, and were manned by hosts of brave 
and determined defenders. There followed a week of as deperate 
and determined fighting as the war had witnessed. Day after day 
the brave battalions of the Union army were hurled against the 
rebels. It was evident that the time had not come for the capture 
of these works. The emergency displayed the resources of the 
Commanding General in devising and executing a movement bold 
as it was brilliant. Concealing his operations under a fire of skir- 
mishers, General Grant, with the mass of his army, commenced 
another flank movement. Descending the left bank of the Chieka- 
lioininy, he crossed it several miles below the enemy's lines, and by 
n rapid march reached the James River, and crossed it on pontoon 
bndges. By this brilliant movement he placed his forces in rear 
of Lee's army, south of Richmond. After effecting a junction with 
General Butler at Bermuda Hundred on the 15th of June, he crossed 
the Appomattox and commenced an attack on Petersburg. 

General Lee, startled at hearing the thunder of Grant's cannon 
far to the south of him, made haste to abandon his now useless 
ramparts and turn his army to the defense of Richmond in another 
22 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 1 

quarter. A triple Hue of intrenchmeuts reared for the defense of 
Petersburg were manned by soldiers who fought with the valor of 
desperation. After a terrible struggle the outer line was captured, 
with sixteen guns and three hundred prisoners. After two days 
more of bloody battle, whose scenes can never be adequately de- 
scribed, General Lee abandoned his second line, and concentrated 
all his strength for the defense of his inner works. In those three 
days of battle the Union Army lost ten thousand men in killed, 
wounded, and missing. It was evident that Petersburg, which was 
the key to Richmond, was defended by works so strong that they 
could only be taken by siege. 

Firmly, as in a vice, General Grant held the bulk of the rebel 
army, while General Sherman led a resistless host from Atlanta 
in a rapid and desolating march through Georgia and the Carolinas 
to co-operate with the army before the ramparts of Richmond. 
The Rebellion was tottering to its fall under the wise policy which 
placed General Grant at the head of the Armies of the United 
States. He comprehended the situation with the perception of a 
statesman and the intuition of a military genius, as the following 
extract from one of his official reports will show: 

" From an early period in the Rebellion I have been impressed 
with the idea that the active and continuous operations of all the 
troops that could be brought into the field, regardless of season and 
weather, was necessary to a speedy termination of the war. From 
the first I was firm in the conviction that no peace could be had 
that would be stable, and conducive to the happiness of the people, 
both North and South, until the military power of the Rebellion 
was entirely broken. I therefore determined, first, to use the 
greatest number of troops practicable against the armed force of 
the enemy, preventing him from using the same force at different 
seasons against first one and then another of our armies, and from 
the possibility of repose for refitting and producing necessary sup- 
plies for carrying on resistance; second, to hammer continually 
against the armed force of the enemy and his resources, until by 
mere attrition, if in no other way, there should be nothing left to 
23 



20 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

him but an equal submission, with the loyal section of our commoi. 
country, to the Constitution and laws of the land." 

"Weeks and months rolled on, every day being signalized by im- 
portant military operations. General Grant was constantly making 
progress toward the end he kept continually in view — the destruc- 
tion of " the military power of the Rebellion." It was near the 
end of March, 18G5. General Sherman having swept through the 
heart of the Confederacy, had turned his victorious soldiers north- 
ward, and formed a junction with forces sent by General Grant to 
meet him. 

It was evident that the days of the Rebellion were numbered. 
It was feared by General Grant that the beleaguered enemy might 
make his escape from Richmond, and protract for a time his hope- 
less struggle. Seeing indications of such a purpose on the part of 
General Lee, Grant hurled his whole army at once upon the rebel 
lines. For three days the battle raged with a fury winch no previ- 
ous conflicts had surpassed. Lee was convinced that he could 
not resist the assault of another day, and on the night of the 3d of 
April fled, with the shattered remnants of his army. The National 
troops entered the abandoned works, aud immediately the nation 
was electrified by the joyful news: 

" Richmond and Petersburg are ours. A third part of Lee's army 
is destroyed. For the remainder there is no escape." 

In anticipation of the flight of Lee from Richmond, General 
Grant had placed the Fifth Corps in such a position that it was 
thrown in front of the enemy, and thus cut off his retreat. Lee's 
array was now at the mercy of General Grant. The rebel troops 
were so hemmed in, and so exposed to shot and shell, that a few 
hours would have sufficed for their destruction. Sympathy for 
them induced General Grant to make the first advances, and urge 
General Lee to surrender and spare him the pain of destroying the 
heroic but misguided soldiers of the Rebellion. Lee asked the 
terms of surrender which would be accepted, and General Grant 
replied, " Peace being my first desire, there is but one condition I 
insist upon, namely, that the men surrendered shall be disqualified 
24 



ULYSSES S. GRANT. 21 

for taking up arms against the Government of the United States 
until properly exchanged." General Lee proposed an interview, 
that he and General Grant might confer upon the "restoration of 
peace." General Grant's reply indicates his wise perception of the 
only responsibility which rested upon him : 

"As I have no authority to treat on the subject of peace, the 
meeting proposed could lead to no good. I wdl state, however, 
General, that 1 am equally anxious for peace with yourself, and the 
whole North entertains the same feeling. The terms upon which 
peace may be had are well understood. By the South laying down 
their arms they will hasten this most desirable event, save thou- 
sands of human lives, and hundreds of millions of property not yet 
destroyed." 

General Lee saw that delay or parley would serve no useful 
purpose with such a man. On the afternoon of the 9th of April 
he accepted the simple and decisive terms of surrender imposed 
by General Grant. All the material of war was to be given up, 
and the officers and men to give their parole not to serve against 
the United States until exchanged. Johnston surrendered to 
General Sherman a few days later. The great Rebellion was at 
an end. A grateful country acknowledged that the chief instru- 
ment in bringing about this happy result was General Ulysses S. 
Grant. His countrymen heaped honors upon him without parsi- 
mony. Congress revived the grade of General, which none had 
held since Washington, and on the 25th of July, 1865, this peer- 
less military rank was conferred upon General Grant. 

It soon became evident that it was the wish of the people to ele- 
vate him to the Presidency. On the 21st of May, 1868, the Ke- 
publican Convention, assembled at Chicago, gave him a unanimous 
nomination as candidate for this high office. He accepted the 
nomination in apt and modest terms, closing with the words, "Let 
us have peace," which were accepted by a long distracted country 
as auspicious of better days. The twenty-six States which partici- 
pated in the election gave two hundred and fourteen electoral votes 
for Grant, and eighty for Seymour, the opposing candidate. 



22 ULYSSES S. GRANT. 

On the 4th of March, 1S69, General Grant entered upon the 
duties of his high office. He surrounded himself with able coun- 
selors, who were fully in accord with him in their purpose to give 
the country an honest and efficient administration. He was suc- 
cessful in the accomplishment of two results apparently incompati- 
ble with each other, yet both fortunate for the country — great re- 
duction of internal taxes, and immense diminution of the public 
debt. His humane policy toward the Indians, his generous but 
firm treatment of the lately rebellious States, his judicious steps in 
civil service reform, his wise administration of foreign affairs, — all 
received the general approval of the people. 

The delegates to the Republican National Convention which as- 
sembled in June, 1872, were instructed by the people, and by ac- 
clamation re-nominated Ulysses S. Grant for the Presidency of the 
United States. He was re-elected by an immense majority, receiv- 
ing two hundred and ninety-two electoral votes against seventy-four 
for all others. On the 4th of March, 1873, General Grant, was in- 
augurated for his second term as President of the United States. 
His address on the occasion did honor to his head and heart as the 
chief Executive of a great nation. In reviewing the past ho de- 
clared that it had been his purpose to act for the best interests of 
the whole people; that he had occupied the four years just closed in 
the effort to "restore harmony, public credit, commerce, and all 
the arts of peace and progress." Looking to the future, he pledged 
himself to a policy as comprehensive and benign as was ever con- 
ceived by an enlightened and patriotic statesman. 

In personal character and endowments General Grant is singu- 
larly fitted for his high position. He possesses a mind practical 
and well-balanced; great strength of will with remarkable equa- 
bility of temper. He has a calm independence which is not pliant 
to the purposes of others. He makes up his mind rapidly, and 
forthwith bends every energy to the execution of his purpose. With 
great decision of character he combines profound deference for the 
popular will. He is faithful in his friendship, sincere in his pro- 
fessions, superior to all envy, truthful, honorable*, and upright. 
26 




' 



^^x ^4 



(STt^ 






HEN RY WILSON, 

VICE-PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. 




'ENRY WILSON was born at Farmington, N. H, Feb- 
ruary 16, 1812, of poor parentage. He was early appren- 
"Jv^'k ticed to a farmer in bis native town, with whom he contin- 
ued eleven years, during which period his school privileges, at dif- 
ferent intervals, amounted to about one year. He early formed a 
taste for reading, which he eagerly indulged on Sundays and even- 
ings by fire-light and moon-light. Thus, in the course of his eleven 
years' apprenticeship, he read about 1,000 volumes — mainly of his- 
tory and biography. 

On coming of age, young Wilson left Farmington, and with all his 
possessions packed upon his back, walked to Natick, Mass., and hired 
himself to a shoemaker. Having learned the trade, and labored 
nearly three years, he returned to New Hampshire for the purpose ot 
securing an education. His educational career, however, was sud- 
denly arrested by the insolvency of the man to whom he had entrust- 
ed his money, and in 1838 he returned to Natick to resume his trade 
of shoemaking. 

"Wilson was now twenty-six years of age, and up to this period his 
life had been mainly devoted to labor. It was in allusion to this that 
when, in 1858, he replied on the floor of Congress to the famous 
" mudsill " speech of Gov. Hammond of South Carolina, he gave ut- 
terance to these eloquent words : 

" Sir, I am the son of a hireling manual laborer, who, with the 
frosts of seventy winters on his brow, 'lives by daily labor.' I, too, 
have 'lived by daily labor.' I, too, have been a ' hireling manual la- 
borer ' Poverty cast its dark and chilling shadow over the home of 
27 



2 HENRY WILSON. 

my childhood ; and want was sometimes there — an unbidden guest. 
At the age of ten years — to aid him who gave me being in keeping 
the gaunt specter from the hearth of the mother who bore me — I left 
the home of my boyhood, and went forth to earn my bread by 
' daily labor.' " 

From his youth, Mr. Wilson seems to have been deeply and perma 
nently imbued with the spirit of hostility to Slavery, and few mer. 
have dealt more numerous or heavy blows against the institution. 
His political career commenced in 1S40. During this year he made 
upwards of sixty speeches in behalf of the election of Gen. Harrison. 
In the succeeding five years, he was three times elected a Representa- 
tive, and twice a Senator, to the Massachusetts legislature. Here his 
stern opposition to Slavery was at once apparent, and in 1845 he was 
selected, with the poet Whittier, to bear to Washington the great anti- 
slavery petition of Massachusetts against the annexation of Texas. 
In the same year he introduced in the legislature a resolution declai 
rag the unalterable hostility of Massachusetts to the further extensioi 
and longer continuance of Slavery in America, and her fixed deter 
mination to use all constitutional and lawful means for its extinction. 
His speech on this occasion was pronounced by the leading anti-sla- 
very journals to be the fullest and most comprehensive on the Slavery 
question that had yet been made in any legislative body in the coun- 
try. The resolution was adopted by a large majority. 

Mr. Wilson was a delegate to the Whig National Convention of 
1 848, and on the rejection of the anti-slavery resolutions presented 
to that body, he withdrew from it, and was prominent in the organi- 
zation of the Free Soil party. In the following year he was chosen 
chairman of the Free Soil State Committee of Massachusetts — a post 
which he filled during four years. In 1850 he was again a membei 
of the State legislature : and in 1851 and 1852 was a member of the 
Senate, and president of that body. He was also president of the 
Free Soil National Con zention at Pittsburg in 1852, and chairman of 
the National Committee. He was the Free Soil candidate for Con- 
gress in 1852. In 1853 and 1854 he was an unsuccessful candidate 
28 



HENRY WILSON. 3 

foi Governor of Massachusetts. In 1853 he was an active and influ- 
ential member of the Massachusetts Constitutional Convention. In 
1S55, was elected to the United States Senate to fill the vacancj 
occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Everett. 

Mr. Wilson took his seat in the Senate in February, 1855, and. by 
a -ote nearly unanimous, has been thrice re-elected to that office. As 
a Senator, he has been uniformly active, earnest, faithful, prominent, 
and influential, — invariably evincing an inflexible and fearless opposi- 
tion to Slavery and the slave-power. In his very first speech, made 
a few days after entering the Senate, he announced for himself and 
his anti-slavery friends their uncompromising position. "We mean, 
sir," said he, " to place in the councils of the Nation men who, in the 
words of Jefferson, have sworn on the altar of God eternal hostility 
to every kind of oppression over the mind and body of men." This 
was the key-note of Mr. Wilson's career in the Senate from that day 
to this. 

In the spring of 1856 occurred the assault upon Mr. Sumner by 
Preston S. Brooks of South Carolina. Mr. Wilson — whose fear- 
lessness is equal to his firmness and consistency — denounced this act 
as " brutal, murderous, and cowardly." These words, uttered on the 
floor of the Senate, drew forth a challenge from Mr. Brooks, which 
was declined by Wilson in terms so just, dignified, and manly, as to 
secure the warm approval of all good and right-minded people. 

At the commencement of the rebellion, the Senate assigned to 
Mr. Wilson the Chairmanship of the Military Committee. In view 
of his protracted experience as a member of this committee, joined 
with his great energy and industry, probably no man in the Senate 
was more completely qualified for this most important post. In this 
committee originated most of the legislation for raising, organizing, 
and governing the armies, while thousands of nominations of officers 
of all grades were referred to it. The labors of Mr. Wilson, as 
chairman of the committee, were immense. Important legislation 
affecting the armies, and the thousands of nominations, could not 
but excite the liveliest interest of officers and their friends ; and they 
29 



4 HENRY WILSON. 

ever freely visited him, consulted with, and wrote to him. Private 
soldiers, too, ever felt at liberty to visit him, or write to him concern- 
ing their affairs. Thousands did so, and so promptly did he attend 
to their needs that they called him the " Soldier's Friend." 

As clearly as any man in the country, Mr. Wilson, at the com- 
mencement of the rebellion, discerned the reality and magnitude of 
the impending conflict. Hence, at the fall of Fort Sumter, when 
President Lincoln issued a call for 75,000 men, the clear-sighted Sen- 
ator advised that the call should be for 300,000 ; and immediately in- 
duced the Secretary of War to double the number of regiments 
assigned to Massachusetts. In the prompt forwarding of these troops 
Mr. Wilson was specially active. Throughout that spring, and until 
the meeting of Congress, July 4th, he was constantly occupying him- 
self at Washington, aiding the soldiers, working in the hospitals, and 
pi( 'paring the necessary military measures to be presented to the na- 
tional legislature. 

Congress assembled ; and, on the second day of the session, Mr. 
Wilson introduced several important bills relating to the military 
wants of the country, one of which was a bill authorizing the employ- 
ment of 500,000 volunteers for three years. Subsequently Mr. Wil- 
son introduced another bill authorizing the President to accept 500,- 
000 volunteers additional to those already ordered to be employed. 
During this extra session, Mr. Wilson, as Chairman of the Military 
Committee, introduced other measures of great importance relating to 
the appointment of army officers, the purchase of arms and muni- 
tions of war, and increasing the pay of private soldiers, — all of 
which measures were enacted. In fact, such was his activity and ef- 
ficiency in presenting and urging forward plans for increasing and 
organizing the armies necessary to put down the rebellion, that Gen 
eral Scott declared of Mr. Wilson that he " had done more work in 
that short session than all the chairmen of the military committees 
had done for the last twenty years." 

After the defeat at Bull Kim, Mr. Wilson was earnestly solicited bj 
Mr. Cameron, Mr. Seward, and Mr. Chase, to raise a regiment of in- 
30 



HENRY WILSON. 



fantry, a company of sharp-shooters, and a Lattery of artillery. Ac 
cordingly, returning to Massachusetts, he issued a stirring appeal 
to the young men of the State, addressed several public meetings, 
and in forty days he succeeded in rallying 2,300 men. He was a 'in- 
missioned colonel of the Twenty-second Regiment, and with his regi- 
ment, a company of sharp-shooters, and the third battery of artillery, 
he returned to Washington as colonel ; and afterwards, as aid on the 
staff of General McClellan, Mr. Wilson served until the beginning 
of the following year, when pressing duties in Congress forced him 
to resign his military commission. 

Returning to his seat in the Senate, Mr. Wilson originated and 
carried through several measures of great importance to the interests 
of the army and the country. Among these was the passage of hills 
relating to courts-martial, allotment certificates, army-signal depart- 
ment, sutlers and their duties, the army medical department, en- 
couragement of enlistments, making free the wives and children 
of colored soldiers, a uniform system of array ambulances, increas- 
ing still further the pay of soldiers, establishing a national mili- 
tary and naval asylum for totally disabled officers and men of the 
volunteer forces, encouraging the employment of disabled and dis- 
ci arged soldiers, securing to colored soldiers equality of pay, and 
other wise and judicious provisions. 

Invariably true and constant in his sympathies for the down- 
trodden and oppressed, Mr. Wilson never once forgot the slave, for 
whose freedom and elevation he had consecrated his time and energies 
for .lore than a quarter of a century. He actively participated in 
tl measures culminating in the anti-slavery amendment to the ( !i tnsl i- 
tution. He introduced the bill abolishing Slavery in the District of 
Columbia, by which more than three thousand slaves were made free, 
and Slavery made for ever impossible in the capital of the Nation. lie 
introduced a provision, which became a law, May 21, 1862, "provid- 
ing that persons of color in the District of Columbia should be sub- 
ject to the same laws to which white persons were subject ; that 
they should be tried for offenses against the laws in the same manner 
31 



6 



HENRY WILSON. 



as white persons were tried ; and, if convicted, be liable to the same 
penalty, and no other, as would be inflicted upon white persons foi 
the same crime." He introduced the amendment to the Militia Bill 
of 1795, which made negroes a part of the militia, and providing for 
the freedom of all such men of color as should be called into the ser- 
vice of the United States, as well as the freedom of their mothers, 
wives, and children. This, with one or two other measures of a kin- 
dred character, introduced by Mr. Wilson, and urged forward 
through much and persistent opposition, resulted in the freedom of 
nearly 100,000 slaves in Kentucky alone. 

After the close of the war, Mr. Wilson was no less active and in- 
fluential in procuring legislation for the suitable reduction of the army 
than he had been in originating measures for its creation. Making an 
extended tour through the Southern States, he delivered numerous 
able and instructive addresses on political and national topics, 
which had a marked effect in promoting practical reconstruction. 

It was in his place in the Senate, however, that he performed 
his most effective labors in promoting the great work of recon- 
struction. With the eye of a statesman he surveyed the tield, and 
was among the first to discover the means necessary to accomplish 
the desired end. He saw that the foundation of enduring pros- 
perity to the South and peace to the country must be a guarantee 
of civil and political rights to the colored people, firmly imbedded 
in the Constitution. This having been accomplished, he favored 
the mildest measures which sound statesmanship could devise in the 
treatment of persons recently in rebellion. Though possessed of 
rare kindness of heart, he did not permit his emotions to blind him 
to the necessity of adopting such measures as would insure the 
country against a recurrence of the bloody tragedy of rebellion. 

During all his public life Mr. Wilson has always been bold and 
eloquent in the advocacy of measures tending to give employment 
to working-men, and open to them all possible chances for advance- 
ment. He has been a strong advocate of homestead acts, of laws 
exempting from seizure the poor man's furniture and a portion of 
hie wages, of laws abolishing imprisonment for debt, laws to open 
32 



HENRY WILSON. 7 

the public lands to actual settlers, and laws to reduce the hours 
of labor. He advocated the Eight Hour Law as likely to promote 
•'the material, intellectual, and moral interests of the masses of the 
people, whose lot it was to toil for their subsistence." Of his more 
than thirteen hundred public speeches a large majority have 
been directly in the interests of the people who are doing the 
world's necessary work. 

His sympathies for the unfortunate have been manifested not only 
in word but in deed. He is said to have devoted a large portion 
of his salary as a Senator and his pay as an author to the relief 
of the soldier and the unfortunate. He would never have to do 
with gains which were in any way wrung from the poor or the 
oppressed. While he was engaged in manufacturing shoes one of 
his Southern customers who had failed promised to compromise by 
paying fifty per cent of the indebtedness, but proposed to raise the 
money in part by the sale of his slaves. Wilson would not hear of 
this, but gave him a full discharge of the whole debt, requesting 
him never to send any divideud unless it could be doue from money 
not obtained by the traffic in human beings. 

Mr. Wilson was among the first to declare himself in favor of 
General Grant as the Republican candidate for the Presidency in 
1868. After the nomination he entered with great zeal into the 
canvass, and made some of the ablest speeches of the campaign. 
He gave the administration a steady and consistent support, not 
hesitating, however, in a spirit of candor, to criticise its mistakes. 

President Grant having been unanimously nominated for re-elec- 
tion by the Republican National Convention of 1872, the second 
place upon the ticket was assigned to Henry Wilson. This nom- 
ination was every-where received with approval by the party. In 
Wilson they believed they had a candidate who in every emergency 
would do honor to his party and the country. He was elected to 
the Vice-Presidency by an unexpectedly large majority, receiving 
292 out of a total electoral vote of 366. He was inaugurated 
Vice-President on the 4th of March, 1873, amid unusually auspi- 
cious omens for a happy and prosperous term. 
33 



8 II E N E T W I L S O N . 

Mr. Wilson was married in 1840 to Miss Harriet M. Howe, of 
Natick, a young lady of intelligence, amiability, and beauty. Her 
early loss of health prevented her from taking an active part in 
society. She died, much lamented, in May, 1S70, after a painful 
illness of several years. Their only child, Lieut. -Col. Hamilton 
Wilson, of the army, died in Texas in 1866, at the age of twenty 

In early life Mr. Wilson saw the lamentable effects of the use of 
alcoholic liquors as a beverage, in causing crime, and keeping the 
common people in their condition of poverty and degradation. He 
resolved to refrain entirely from their use, and to use his utmost in- 
fluence to induce others to do likewise. He founded the Congres- 
sional Temperance Society, and by its agency succeeded in saving 
more than one man of genius from degradation and ruin. 

In 1S68 Mr. Wilson became a member of the Congregational 
Church. He has given much of his time, talent, and money in 
forwarding religious enterprises. The elements and traits of Chris- 
tian character which exist in him are not the products of a day,' but 
the growth of years — are not ephemeral but enduring. 

Notwithstanding his cares and labors in the field of politics, Mr. 
Wilson has accomplished more in literature than many who have 
made it a pursuit. He is the author of a " History of the Anti- 
slavery Measures of the Thirty-seventh and Thirty-eighth Con- 
gresses," and " History of the Reconstruction Measures of the Thirty- 
ninth Congress." His principal literary work is " The History of 
the Rise and Fall of the Slave Power in America," the first 
and second volumes of which, recently published, have received 
the approval of the leading critics of the country. 

In his personal character Mr. Wilson is without reproach. He 
possesses purity as stainless as when he entered politics, and integ- 
rity as unimpeachable as when first elected to office. He is one of 
the most practical of statesmen, and one of the most skillful of legis- 
lative tacticians. His forte is hard work — the simple and efficient 
means by which he has arisen from humble origin to his present 
high position. 

34 




V ///////// J/^/Sy 



V,, s> 







HAMILTON FISH, 

SECRETARY OF STATE. 



AMILTON FISH was born in New York city, August 3, 
1808, of an old family in high consideration for wealth 
"jj^j S^ and respectability. He was educated at Columbia College, 
where he maintained an excellent character for scholarship. Hav- 
ing graduated, he entered upon the study of law in his native city. 
At the May term in 1830 he was examined, and admitted as an 
attorney of the Supreme Court of the State. Three years later he 
was regularly enrolled among the counselors of that court. 

Though his natural abilities and liberal culture eminently fitted 
him for a brilliant professional career, the cares and responsibilities 
of a large property, that devolved upon him soon after he com- 
menced practice, prevented him from devoting that time and 
attention to the legitimate pursuits of his profession which are 
necessary to attain its highest honors. While he continued at the 
bar, however, his business was both considerable and lucrative. 
He was respected for the fidelity and promptitude with which he 
managed the interests committed to his charge. 

Early in his career he entered the field of politics, as a member 
of the Whig party, in which he soon attained a leading position. 
He was for several years Commissioner of Deeds for the City and 
Countv of New York. In 1842 he was elected a Representati7e 
in Congress from the Fourth Congressional District of New York 
city, over Hon. John M'Keon, the Democratic candidate, who then 
represented the district. His majority was small, but it was consid- 
ered a great triumph by his friends, as the majority of Governor 
Bouck over Mr. Bradish in the same district was about twelve 
hundred. In the Twenty-eighth Congress, to which he was then 
elected, Mr. Fish served on the Military Committee, and dis- 
35 



2 HAMILTON FISH. 

charged all the duties of his position with commendable punctual- 
ity and faithfulness. 

Mr. Fish was nominated as the "Whig candidate for Lieutenant- 
Governor, at the State Convention of 1846, on the same ticket 
with John Young. The Anti-Renters adopted Mr. Gardner, the 
Democratic candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, and he was elected 
over Mr. Fish by upward of 13,000 majority. The latter was a 
candidate for the same office at the November election iu 1S47, 
to fill the vacancy occasioned by the resignation of Mr. Gardner, 
and was elected by a majority of about 30,000. As President 
of the State Senate, Mr. Fish was distinguished by gentlemanly 
courtesy and dignified urbanity. 

Mr. Fish, as Lieutenant-Governor, occupied a position that natu- 
rally attracted the attention of the party to himself. The Whigs 
were divided into two factions, the Conservative or National, and 
the Radical Whigs — the particular friends of Mr. Seward. The 
sympathies of Mr. Fish were understood to be with the former ; 
but, however decided in his convictions, he was moderate in the 
expression of his opinions, and by his conciliatory course had 
secured the good wishes of both factions. His friends in the city 
of New York urged his nomination for Governor with much earn- 
estness, and such was his general popularity among the Whigs of 
the State, that he was nominated with great unanimity at the 
State Convention held on the 14th of September, 1848. The 
Democrats had now divided into two parties, presenting as their 
candidates John A. Dix and Reuben H. Walworth. The vote 
given for Mr. Fish was less than that given for both the Demo- 
cratic candidates, but his plurality over either of them was 
very large. The division in the Democratic party rendered un- 
necessary any effort by the Whigs to secure the victory. 

Mr. Fish took the oath of office as Governor in 1849. He was 
embarrassed by the solicitations made by the radical or conserva- 
tive factions in his party to exert his influence in favor of one or the 
other; but he at all times steadily refused to take part in the con- 
tentions and divisions the occurrence of which he so much regretted 
36 



HAMILTON FISH. 3 

His conduct was generally approved, and his administration passed 
quietly and harmoniously. 

His messages indicated the possession on the part of their author 
of high literary abilities, and were much commended for the modest 
tone in which they were written. During his administration the 
slavery question was agitated in Congress and throughout the 
Union. He was entirely committed in favor of the principle of 
the Wilmot proviso. In his messages he expressed his decided 
opposition to the extension of slave territory. His remarks on this 
exciting question were conservative in their tone, though indicat- 
ing the depth of his convictions, and the firmness with which they 
would be maintained. 

Among the noteworthy recommendations of Governor Fish 
were the endowment of a State Agricultural School and a school 
for instruction in the mechanic arts — the restoration of the office 
of county superintendent of common schools — the management 
and equal taxation of personal property, and the establishment of 
tribunals of conciliation. 

In 1851 Mr. Fish was elected a United States Senator for the 
term ending in 1857. He served on the Committee on Naval 
Affairs and the Committee on Foreign Relations. His course in 
the Senate gave the highest satisfaction to his friends. His con- 
sistency as a politician, his sagacity as a statesman, his decision of 
character, and his business talent, gave him a prominent place in 
the Senate and before the country. 

At the breaking out of the civil war he gave his influence and 
means to the support of the Government. He was appointed with 
Bishop Ames, in January, 1862, upon a commission to relieve the 
Union prisoners in the South, and succeeded in negotiating a 
general exchange of prisoners of war. 

In 1869 Mr. Fish entered upon the office of Secretary of State 
in the cabinet of President Grant. His administration of this 
important office has been such as to give satisfaction to the 
country, and to increase the respect in which the American name 
is held every-where abroad. His policy has been eminently one 
37 



4 HAMILTON FISH. 

of peace and conciliation. Chief among the achievements of 
recent times is the settlement of the Alabama Claims and of the 
northwest water boundary, by the Treaty of Washington, which 
was negotiated in 1871 — principally through the agency of Mr. 
Fish. The culmination of this negotiation in the Tribunal of 
Arbitration, which concluded its important work in September, 
1872, is one of the most signal victories of peace the world has 

ever seen. 

38 




^^ca^H j///Ha& r*?UJ2t< 



WILLIAM A. RIOHAKDSON, 

SECRETARY OP THE TREASURY. 




p?ILLTAM A. RICHARDSON was born in Tyngsborough, 

Massachusetts, November 2, 1821. His father, Hon. 
Daniel Richardson, was a lawyer of reputation, and his father's 
brother, William M. Richardson, was Chief-Justice of New Hamp- 
shire. He prepared for college at Groton (now Lawrence) Acad- 
emy, and graduated at Harvard in 1843. He was made Master of 
Arts and Bachelor of Laws at the same institution in 1846. He 
was admitted to the Boston bar on motion of the late Governor 
Andrew, July 8, 1846, and immediately settled in the practice of 
the law with his brother. Hon. Daniel S. Richardson, at Lowell, 
where they resided. 

In the year of his admission to the bar he accepted his first official 
position, that of Judge Advocate of the Massachusetts Militia, 
which he held for four years. He was appointed aid-de-camp to 
Governor Boggs in 1850. 

His admitted talents were early recognized by calls to fill stations 
of honor and responsibility. In 1849 he was chosen to the Lowell 
Common Council, also in 1853 and 1854, and was made President 
of that body. In 1853 he was one of the Corporators of the Low- 
ell Five Cents Savings Bank — appointed one of the Trustees and 
upon the Finance Committee, which trusts he still continues 
to discharge. The new institution was a financial novelty 
in that day, but experience has demonstrated the wisdom which 
devised and perfected it. 

His abilities as a financier were recognized by his appointment 
as President of the Wamesit (now National) Bank in 1859, which 
39 



2 WILLIAM A. RICHARDSON. 

lie held until January, 1S67; also, with the exception of that time, 
he was a Director of the Appleton Bank, Lowell, from October, 
1853, until his appointment as Secretary of the Treasury, when he 
resigned. He held the important office of President of the Mid- 
dlesex Mechanics' Association in Lowell for two years, and exercised 
a controlling influence in a thorough remodeling and reorganizing 
of that influential- institution. 

In 1855 he was appointed to revise the General Statutes of the 
Commonwealth, having as associates in this laborious work Hon. 
Joel Parker and A. A. Richmond. This occupied a period of four 
years, and resulted in the " General Statutes of Massachusetts, 1 ' 
enacted in 1859. The amount of labor, patient, study, and legal 
skill required in mastering so much complication, and bringing the 
mass into harmonious order, may be imagined by all ; but its suc- 
cessful accomplishment can only be appreciated by an experienced 
professional mind. The fidelity of this great work led the Legisla- 
ture, in 1859, to appoint Mr. Richardson (then Judge) Chairman of 
the Committee to edit the General Statutes, Judge Sanger being 
joined with him in the work; and by a further Act, in 1867, he 
was charged with a continuance of this duty, which he has per- 
formed annually from that time. 

Again, at the extra session of the Legislature, in November, 1872, 
he was appointed, with Judge Sanger, to edit a new edition of The 
General Statutes, and the Supplement thereto, in consequence of 
the destruction of the original plates in the great fire, and the same 
were published early in the year 1873, in two volumes of more than 
twelve hundred pages each. 

In April, 1850, he entered upon the duties of Judge of Probate 
for Middlesex County, by appointment of the Governor and Coun- 
cil, succeeding Hon. S. P. P. Fay, who had held the office for thirty- 
five years preceding. On the consolidation of the office of Judge 
of Insolvency with that of Judge of Probate, in May, 1868, he was 
appointed to the new position of Judge of Probate and Insolvency, 
and remained in it until April, 1872, when he resigned the charge ; 
a period of sixteen years from his first taking office as Judge of 
40 



WILLIAM A. RICHARDSON. 3 

Probate. The same industry which he has exhibited in so many 
other instances was manifested in a revisal of the entire mass of old 
Probate blanks and Probate practice, with results approved by the 
Supreme Court, and adopted throughout the Commonwealth in 
1862. Although this work was done by authority of a Committee 
of Judges, yet it was Judge Richardson who performed the sub- 
stantial labor. It was bringing order out of chaos almost literally. 

Amid these multiplied demands upon his time, he was appointed 
one of the Trustees of Lawrence Academy in 1862, and one of 
the Overseers of Harvard College in 1863 ; and again, under the 
new law, in 1869; he has held these appointments from the first, 
and holds them still. In 1860 he found it necessary to remove his 
law office from Lowell to Boston, and his residence to Cambridge. 
In April of 1869 he was appointed and commissioned Judge of the 
Superior Court of Massachusetts, but declined the honor. 

He had long been well known to Governor Boutwell, who resided 
in the same county, and as soon as the latter was appointed Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, March 11, 1S69, he telegraphed to Mr. Rich- 
ardson to come to Washington, and take the position of Assistant 
Secretary, to which he was appointed March 20, 1869, without 
previous consultation with him. He not only was taken by surprise 
when the appointment was offered him, but he accepted it at last 
with reluctance, and by earnest persuasion. And even after he had 
filled the office with distinguished credit, he repeatedly sought to 
escape by tendering his resignation. But it was never accepted. 
He was immediately designated by the President to be Acting 
Secretary of the Treasury during any absence of Mr. Boutwell, and 
under that designation was in fact Acting Secretary for nine months 
while he held the office of Assistant, and for a short time in 1870 
was also Acting Attorney-General by a like designation. 

During this busy life he found time to write other books, beside 
revising and editing the Statutes of Massachusetts, having pub- 
lished "The Banking Laws of Massachusetts" in 1S55, and a most 
valuable and comprehensive volume in 1872, entitled "Practical 
Information concerning the Public Debt of the United States: 
41 



4 WILLIAM A. RICHARDSON. 

with the National Banking Laws ;" a second edition of which was 
printed in this country, and a third edition in England in 1873. 

One would think that a man surrounded by so many responsi- 
bilities and such varied demands upon his time would be borne 
down by the constant drudgery of thinking and working. But 
Judge Richardson took his vacations of foreign travel as well as 
men of more elegant leisure. He spent some five or six months of 
the year 1865 in Europe ; and again seven months of 1867 ; extend- 
ing his studies and trip the latter year as far as Russia. 

In June, 1871, while still Assistant Secretary, he was sent to 
Europe by Mr. Boutwell, the Secretary, as confidential agent, to 
negotiate abroad the new five per cent, funded loan, in which un- 
dertaking, amid much discouragement, he was eminently successful, 
having, in a few months, interested bankers and inventors in the 
loan, and organized a plan upon which he disposed of a large 
amount of bonds while there, and on which the funding of the 
public debt has since been continued. He had with him Mr. J. P. 
Bigelow, Chief of the Loan Division, and some thirty-five clerks, 
through whom he delivered seventy-six millions of dollars of the 
new bonds to subscribers, received payment therefor, and invested 
the proceeds in outstanding bonds which he received, canceled, and 
returned to the Department at "Washington. In March, 1872, he 
returned home, and the accounts were settled by the accounting 
officers of the Treasury without a single error in the whole transac- 
tion. At one time the money had so accumulated in his hands, that 
he had on deposit in the Bank of England sixteen or seventeen 
millions of dollars. 

On the 17th of March, 1873, upon the transfer of Mr. Boutwell 
to the Senate of the United States as Senator from Massachusetts, 
Mr. Richardson was nominated, unanimously confirmed, and ap- 
pointed by President Grant to be Secretary of the Treasury. 
He resigned June 1, 1873, and was appointed one of the Judges 
of the United States Court of Claims. 
42 



BENJAMIN H. BEISTOW, 

SECRETARY OP THE TREASURY. 



'ENJAMIN H. BRISTOW was born in Kentucky of an 
fcB old and respected family. They were slaveholders, but oc- 
■10 cupied the attitude, exceptional with their class, of loyalty 
during the Rebellion. His father, who is said to have 
enjoyed the reputation of being "the honestest man in Kentucky," 
was a Representative in the Thirty-sixth Congress. Benjamin H. 
Bristow, after receiving a common school education, studied law, 
and engaged in the practice of his profession in the city of Louis- 
ville. 

When the Civil War broke out Bristow left his law practice and 
entered the Union army. He was shot through the body at Shiloh, 
and lay upon the battle-field two days before he was discovered and 
cared for. He served with distinction under General Thomas, 
meriting the entire confidence of his chief. 

At the close of the war Mr. Bristow was made United States 
Attorney for the Louisville District. He occupied this office until 
1870, when he was called to Washington, on the creation of the 
Department of Justice, to till the responsible position of Solicitor- 
General. In 1872 he resigned, to accept a situation in connection 
with the Southern Pacific Railroad, the duties of which position 
requiring him to reside in Philadelphia. During the latter half of 
the year 1873 he severed his connection with the railroad company 
and returned to Louisville, where he resumed the practice of his 
profession with General Harlan. 

On the opening of Congress in December, 1873, the President 
nominated Attorney-General Williams for the Chief- Justiceship, 
and at the same time sent in the name of Mr. Bristow for the va- 
cancy caused by the promotion of his former chief. Of course the 
43 



2 BENJAMIN H. BRISTOW. 

confirmation of Mr. Bristow as Attorney-General depended upon 
that of Judge Williams for the more distinguished position. When 
both names had been before the Senate for more than a month 
they were withdrawn by the President. The latter, who had been 
loth to accept the resignation of Mr. Bristow as Solicitor-General, 
resolved to have him in the cabinet on the occuirence of the first 
vacancy. On the 1st of June, 1874, he was nominated for Secre- 
tary of the Treasury, and on the day following was unanimously 
confirmed by the Senate. 

In a letter dated June 8, 1874, United States Treasurer Spinner 
wrote: " I don't wonder that you feel solicitude in regard to the 
new Secretary. He is not sufficiently known to the general pub- 
lic to be fully appreciated. I have great faith in his ability and 
business qualifications. I believe that he will leave the mere rou- 
tine of this great financial mill to his legal and responsible sub- 
ordinates, and that he will thus be able to devote his intellectual 
powers fully to the finances of the country ; and that he will in- 
augurate a system based on such just principles of political econ- 
omy as will challenge the approval of an intelligent people. His 
frank and open face carries the evidence of honesty. I am satis- 
fied that the President had his reputation for integrity and for ster- 
ling common sense in view when he made his selection of him for 
the most important place in the Government. I don't think that 
he is wedded to any particular scheme or theory, but that he will 
patiently hear reasons on all sides of the vexed cpiestion, and will 
then, after mature reflection, digest and announce a consistent and 
comprehensive plan of national finance. Such is my estimate of 
the man who now has the greatest power for good or for evil on 
this continent." 

44 




WILLIAM W. BELKNAP, 

SECRETARY OF WAR. 



°'f WILLIAM WORTH BELKNAP comes of a military 
family. His father, General William G. Belknap, was 
for many years a distinguished and useful officer of the 
regular Army. He entered the service in 1813 as 
Third Lieutenant of the Twenty-eighth Regiment, of Infantry, 
and died near Fort Wachita, Texas, November 10, 1851. He 
'served with marked gallantry through the Florida and Mexican 
wars, in which he received frequent brevets. He was an intimate 
friend of Scott, Taylor, and Worth, for the latter of whom he 
named his first son, the subject of this sketch, who was born at 
Newhurgh, K T., on the twenty-second of September, 1829. 

He graduated from the college of New Jersey at Princeton, in 
the class of 1848. He studied law with H. Caperton, Esq., at 
Georgetown, D. O, and was the partner of the Hon. Ralph P. 
Lowes afterward Governor of Iowa, and Judge of the Supreme 
Court. He practiced his profession successfully in Keokuk, Iowa, 
where he located in 1851. 

He was elected to serve one term, that of 1857 and 1858, in the 
Iowa Legislature as a Democrat. Being unwilling to give coun- 
tenance to the « Lecompton swindle," he separated from the radi- 
cal wing of his party, and was known as a "Douglas Democrat ' 
up to the outbreak of the Rebellion. He then became a Republic- 
an, voting for Mr. Lincoln's re-election, and giving all the support 
in his power towards the election of General Grant. 

He entered the army as Major of the Fifteenth Iowa Infantry, 
commanded bv Colonel, afterward General, Hugh T. Reed, in Octo- 
ber, 1861, and engaged in his first battle at Shiloh, in the Army 
of the Tennessee. In this engagement he exhibited remarkable 
45 



2 WILLIAM W. BELKNAP. 

ability, assuming command and restoring order and discipline to 
large numbers of troops that had become demoralized. 

He served on General McPherson's staff as Provost Marshal, 
Seventeenth Army Corps, and in other capacities. He figured in 
the campaigns in Tennessee under Generals Sherman and Grant. 
At the battle of Atlanta on the 22d of July, 1864, where General 
McPherson was killed, Colonel Belknap distinguished himself so 
highly as a commander, that he was promoted over the heads of 
his superior officers August 31, 1864, to he Brigadier General of 
Volunteers. In that memorable battle he personally distinguished 
himself by dragging the confederate Colonel Lampley, of the 
Forty-fifth Alabama, over the rebel breastworks. 

After the capture of Atlanta, he inarched witli Sherman to 
the sea, taking a prominent part in the actions of that brilliant 
campaign. He was brevetted Major General on the 13th of 
March, and at the date of his muster out in August, 1865, was re- 
garded as one of the most accomplished and promising officers of 
the Army. 

General Belknap was a lawyer of distinction, and although he 
was offered more prominent and lucrative offices, he chose to 
take the position of Collector of Internal Revenue for the First 
District of Iowa, in order that he might remain at home. In that 
district he wrought many wholesome reforms. He was serving in 
this position when he was tendered the appointment of Secretary 
of War in the cabinet of President Grant. In his administra- 
tion of the affairs of the War office he is regarded, both by the 
officers of the army, who experience its practical results, and by the 
country at large, as one of the most successful of the Secretaries 
of War. 

The Secretary is in the very prime of life and health. He is nearly 
six feet high, has fair hair and blue eyes, and is a perfect type of 
Saxon American manhood. His mental endowments are no less 
generous than his physical. He is large-brained, clear-headed, sen- 
sible, judicious, and well-educated — a good lawyer, and an honest 
man. 

46 



M 



m i 





ZtfTot- 



GEORGE M. ROBESON, 

SECRETARY OF THE NAVY. 



EOEGE M. KOBESON was born in New Jersey in 1827, 
and is the son of Judge William Kobeson, of Warren 
County in that State. He graduated at Princeton Col- 
lege in 1847, began the study of the law at Newark, in Judge 
Ilornblowers office, and was admitted to the bar in 1850. He was 
very successful in his profession, and soon obtained a wide reputa- 
tion as an able lawyer. Not long after his admission to the bar 
he was appointed Prosecutor of the Pleas, an office which he con- 
tinued to fill until 1867, when he was appointed by Governor 
Ward Attorney-General of New Jersey, to succeed Hon. F. T. 
Frelinghuysen, elected to the United States Senate. 

In 1869 Mr. Robeson was appointed Secretary of the Navy, in 
the Cabinet of President Grant, to succeed Hon. Adolpli E. Borie. 
He entered upon the duties of this important position with an ade- 
quate sense of the importance of the duties devolving upon him as 
the head of a Department whose province was, in the eloquent 
language of his first annual report, " to extend its influence and 
protection over every field into which, allured by trade or science, 
or inspired by religion, an American citizen has been able to 
penetrate." 

At the commencement of the Administration the work of repair- 
ing and renovating the Navy was entered upon and prosecuted 
with great energy, and yet in the nine months ending December 
1, 1869, the expenditures of the Department were three millions 
and a half less than during the corresponding period of the 
previous year. In the year ending December 1, 1870, there was a 
decrease in the expenditure of more than one million of dollars 
47 



2 GEORGE .M.ROBESON. 

as compared with that of the previous year. The expenditures of 
the Navy Department for the fiscal .year ending June 1, 1872, were 
more than two millions of dollars less than the amount appropri- 
ated by Congress for its maintenance during that period. 

Under the immediate direction and supervision of Mr. Robeson, 
as Secretary of the Navy, was fitted up the expedition toward the 
North Pole commanded by Captain Hall. This, though unsuc- 
cessful in accomplishing all that was proposed, made valuable con- 
tributions to science, and reflected honor upon the Department 
which organized it, as well as upon the heroic traveler who com- 
manded the expedition. 

The New York Sun having originated and reiterated damaging 
charges against the official integrity of Mr. Robeson, a Congres- 
sional Committee of Inquiry was constituted, who, after long and 
patient investigation, pronounced the charges "totally devoid of 
anv semblance of truth." They approved the administration of 
the Department in every particular, saying in their report : " During 
the period embraced in our investigations the Secretary of the 
Navy has disbursed nearly $60,000,000 in the ordinary administra- 
tion of his Department; and it is a matter of congratulation to the 
country that not only is then.' no stain or suspicion of dishonor left 
upon this officer, as the result of this investigation, but that the 
searching scrutiny, invited and facilitated by him, into the various 
and extended operations of his Department has discovered as little 
pretense for attack, or need for defense, or explanation even in 
matters of discretion and judgment.'' 

Mr. Robeson made an able report to Congress on the restoration 
of American ocean commerce, which was pronounced by the 
Philadelphia North American to be " more comprehensive in its 
character, more practical in its propositions, more exact and dis- 
criminating in its narrative of facts and its statements of influences, 
methods, and plans of operation ; more in keeping with the spirit 
of the age we live in and the high ambition of the Republic, than 
any public document we have had on the subject." 
48 



COLUMBUS DELANO, 

SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR. 



jOLUMBUS DELANO was bom at Shoreham, Vermont, in 
the year 1809. At eight years of age he removed to Ohio, 
in the care of immediate relatives, who settled in the county 
of Knox. His boyhood was passed in the lighter avocations of the 
farm, joined with persistent devotion to study. He pursued his ele- 
mentary education at such schools as were then available, learning 
the Latin language with but little aid from classical teachers. His 
historical reading at the age of eighteen was extensive. With a se- 
riousness becoming his disposition, rather than his years, he began 
thus early to consider how he should make his way in the world, and 
what pathway was to lead him out of obscurity to a useful position 
in life. Without the aid of influential friends, but cheered with the 
encouraging words of those who knew and loved him, he determined 
to undertake the study of law. 

In 1829 he entered the office of Hosmer Curtis, Esq.", then a noted 
special pleader, practicing at Mount Vernon, Ohio. After three 
years of preparation he was admitted to the bar, in 1832, and com- 
mfi-eed practice at Mount Vernon at the age of twenty-two. 

though no display of talent had been exhibited to justify the ex- 
pectation that lie would triumph suddenly over the formidable obsta- 
cles in the way of the young attorney, his success was immediate 
He had the good fortune to be employed as junior counsel in a 
local suit, involving important legal questions and considerable estate. 
Having been left by an accident to the sole management of the case, 
he was triumphantly successful, and thus gained a reputation, the 
immediate effect of which was his election as prosecuting-attorney 
in a county adverse to his politics. After three years' service he was 
re-elected, but immediately resigned the trust, which interfered witli 
49 



2 COLUMBUS DELANO. 

his general practice. Ills constant attention upon the courts for a 
period of ten years, his uniform success as an advocate, his thorough- 
ness and integrity as a lawyer, met with ample reward. 

In politics he has ever been opposed to Slavery and the Demo 
cratic policy. Seeking no office while pursuing his profession, lie 
was still the occasional exponent of tin- Whig party in local contests. 
Surrounded by a cordon of Democratic counties, there seemed to be 
little hope for his popular preferment. But being unanimously 
nominated for Congress by the Whigs of his district, in 1S44, he was 
elected by a majority of twelve over his Democratic competitor, 
Hon. Caleb J. McNulty, a gentleman of extensive popularity, re 
sources and power. The Democratic candidate for Governor received 
COO majority in the same district, at the same election. On the 1st 
of December, 1845, Mr. Delano took his seat in the Twenty-ninth 
Congress, serving on the Committee on Invalid Pensions. This was 
an epoch in Congressional history. Contemporaneous with Mr. Polk's 
administration, it comprised men of great experience and ability. 
The measures of war and conquest, of Oregon and Mexico, were the 
vexed questions of that day, the evil shadows of which lengthened 
into the future. On the Oregon question, Mr. Delano advocated 
the claims for the largest measure of territory against the settlement 
which eventually prevailed. On the 11th of May, 1846, he voted 
with John Quincy Adams, ami twelve others, against the declaration 
that " war existed by the act of Mexico," defending his votes and 
the action of his associates by a speech in the House. Put forward 
as a leader of the fourteen who voted against the false declaration, 
he fully answered their expectations, but without the politician's cir- 
cumspection as to the future. The speech made great contention, 
and was regarded of so much significance that Mr. Douglas, of Illi 
nois, Mr. Sherman, of Ohio, Mr. Chipman, of Missouri, and Mr. 
Tibbatt's, of Kentucky, gave themselves serious concern to answer it. 

His district having been changed by special legislation,^,, was not 

a candidate for re-election, but retired to close up his business in the 

courts. His name was brought before the Whig convention of 

Ohio on the 22d of February, 1848, for nomination as a candidate for 

50 



COLUMBUS DELANO. 3 

Governor; and though he had voted in Congress to reinforce the 
army, and to supply the army, the vote against the declaration con- 
tributed to place him in opposition to the war, and he was conse- 
quently defeated by two votes. Retiring from his profession, he re- 
moved to the city of New York, as principal of the banking firm of 
Delano, Dunleyy & Co., with a branch at Cincinnati, Ohio. After 
tour years he withdrew from a successful business, in 1856, returning 
to his home in Ohio, to engage in agriculture. He was a delegate to 
the Chicago Convention of IStIO, and supported Mr. Lincoln for the 
nomination. In 1861 he was appointed Commissary-General of 
Ohio, and administered that department with marked success until 
the General Government assumed the subsistence of all volunteers. 
The following year the Republican caucus of the Ohio Legislature 
brought his name forward for the United States Senate, and he 
again lacked but two votes of a nomination. 

In 1863 he was a member of the Ohio Legislature, serving as 
Chairman of the Judiciary Committee of the House of Representa- 
tives. In 1864 he was a member of the National Republican Con- 
vention at Baltimore, and was Chairman of the Ohio delegation in 
that body. He was elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress in that 
year, and served as Chairman of the Committee of Claims of the 
House of Representatives. As an evidence of the integrity of his 
character, and the confidence reposed in him by the House, it is suffi- 
cient to state that every bill reported by him was passed into a law. 
He was re-elected to the Fortieth Congress, serving as a member of 
the Committee of Foreign Affairs. 

Immediately upon the close of his Congressional term, he was 
nominated by President Grant, and unanimously confirmed by the 
Senate, as Commissioner of Internal Revenue, one of the most im- 
portant and responsible offices in the government — more than six 
thousand officers reporting to it— and being subject to its control. 
The new Commissioner proceeded at once to reorganize the bureau, 
and place its working force on a more efficient footing. The good 
results of vigorous administration were soon apparent in much 

51 



4 COLUMBUS DELANO. 

larger revenues to the Government, although under lower rates of 
taxation. Successful efforts were made to secure the aid of honest, 
capable, and faithful local Internal Revenue officers, whereby frauds 
were greatly diminished, and the expenses of collecting the revenue 
were much decreased. 

Mr. Delano's administration of the Bureau of Internal Revenue 
was so successful that, he was soon promoted to the Secretaryship of 
the Interior, while the whole country approved the wisdom of the 
appointment. His management of this complicated and difficult 
department was popular and successful. lie had the satisfaction, 
in his last, annual report, to represent the Indian Office as working 
in the most satisfactory manner; the Patent Office as having made 
important improvements in details of its management ; the Land 
Office as having brought, up the large arrears of work which had 
embarrassed its operations for years; the Pension Office as having 
materially reduced the claims on file, for the first, time since the 
close of the war; the Ninth Census as having been completed in 
a shorter time and in a more satisfactory manner than ever before; 
and the Bureau of Education as rapidly extending its held of useful- 
ness. 

Mr. Delano resigned the office of Secretary of the Interior in 
September, 1875, and was succeeded by Hon. Zachariah Chandler, 
for whose biography the reader is referred to page 135 of this 
volume. 

52 



JOHN A. J. ORESWELL. 

POSTMASTER-GENERAL. 



OHN A. J. CRESWELL was born at Port Deposit, Cecil 
County, Maryland, November 18, 1828. He graduated 
at Dickinson College, Pennsylvania, in 1848, studied 
law, and was admitted to the bar of Maryland in 1850. 
He was originally a Whig in politics, casting his first Presidential 
vote for General Scott in 1852. As a result of the Know-Nothing 
furor which practically disbanded the Whig party, Mr. Creswell 
became a Democrat, and was a delegate to the Cincinnati Conven- 
tion which nominated Buchanan in 1S56. At the beginning of the 
war of the Rebellion he joined the Republican party. 

In 1861 he was elected a member of the Maryland House of Del- 
egates. In the summer of that year he was made acting Adjutant 
General for the State, and had charge of raising the first Maryland 
regiments which were enlisted in response to the call of President 
Lincoln. He was elected in 1863 a Representative from Maryland 
to the Thirty-eighth Congress, during which he served on the 
Committees on Commerce and Invalid Pensions. 

He was a delegate to the Republican National Convention 
which renominated Mr. Lincoln in 1864. In March, 1865, he was 
chosen a United States Senator for the unexpired term of Hon. 
Thomas H. Hicks, deceased. He served on the Committees on 
Commerce, Agriculture, Mines and Mining, and as Chairman of 
the Committee on the Library. He was a delegate to the Phila- 
delphia Loyalists' Convention of 1S66. and to the Border-State 
Convention held in Baltimore in 1867. 

His position as an advanced Republican is clearly defined in his 
speech on the proposed thirteenth amendment to the Constitution 
of the United States, delivered in the House of Repressntatives on 
53 



2 JOHN A. J. C RE SWELL 

the 5th of January, 1865; his eulogy on the lite and character of 
his friend and colleague, Henry Winter Davis, delivered by request 
of the House of Repreresentatives on the 22d of February, 1866; 
and his speech before the Border State Convention held in Balti- 
more on the 12th of September, 1867, in favor of Manhood Suffrage. 

Mr. Creswell was appointed Postmaster General at the begin- 
ning of the administration of President Grant, in I860. This im- 
portant department of the Government has never been more 
efficiently administered than since Mr. Creswell assumed its con- 
trol. Almost every branch of the service lias been extended for 
the convenience and accommodation of the people. Receipts have 
been increased, and expenditures relatively diminished. The defi- 
ciency for 1871 was $2,084,933 less than that for 1868. 

Under his administration of the Post-Office Department many 
important reforms and improvements in the postal service have been 
introduced and carried into successful operation, among which may 
be mentioned — 1. A reduction of the cost of Ocean Mail transpor- 
tation, from eight cents to two cents per single letter rate; 2. The 
re-adjustment of the mail pay of railroads on an equitable basis; 
3. An extensive increase of railway post-office lines and postal 
clerks assorting and distributing mail matter in the cars while 
in motion ; 4. A large increase of letter-carriers in cities, and a 
free delivery for every city in the country having a population of 
twenty thousand inhabitants ; 5. A thorough revision of our postal 
arrangements with foreign countries ; 6. The general extension of 
the Money-order system in the United States and to foreign coun- 
tries; 7. A complete codification of the laws relating to the Post 
Office Department, with a systematic classification of offences 
against the postal laws ; 8. A reform in the system of letting mail 
contracts, which prevents fraudulent bidding, aud secures fair com- 
petition among responsible bidders ; 9. The introduction of postal 
cards at a postage of one cent each, as a means of facilitating 
business correspondence, and a step toward a general reduction of 
our domestic letter postage; 10. The absolute repeal of the frank- 
ing privilege. 

54 





—ft 







■ ■ 




MARSHALL JEWELL, 

POSTMASTER-GENERAL. 



MARSHALL JEWELL was born in Winchester, New 
Hampshire, October 20, 1825. He learned the trade of a 
tanner and currier, pursuing this employment for a while 
in his native State, and subsequently in Boston. After 
several years spent in the tanning business Mr. Jewell studied 
telegraph; and electricity. The knowledge thus acquired he sub- 
sequently put to practical use, engaging as he did in the con- 
struction and superintendence of telegraph lines between Louis- 
ville, Kentucky, and New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1850 he went to 
lartford and became a member of the firm of P. Jewell & Sons, 
manufacturers of leather belting, of which firm he is still an active 
member. He possesses superior talents for business, in which he 
has been remarkably successful. 

Down to 1867 Mr. Jewell had' led a comparatively uneventful 
life. He had taken no part in politics save as a private citizen, 
having never sought nor desired public office. In that year he was 
nominated for State Senator, but failed of an election. In January, 
1868, he was tendered and accepted the nomination for Governor 
of Connecticut, but after a spirited and active canvass was 
defeated by Hon. James E. English. The following year both 
political parties made the same nominations, and this time, after 
a still more active campaign, Mr. Jewell was elected, and was 
inaugurated on the first Wednesday in May, 1869. In 1870 the 
same nominations were made for a third time by both parties, 
and Mr. Jewell was for a second time defeated by Mr. English. 
In 1871 he in turn defeated Mr. English, and in 1872 was 
again elected over Hon. It. D. Hubbard. In 1873 he declined 
55 



2 MARSHALL JEWELL. 

a renomination, and retired from office at. the expiration of liis 
term with a wide and well-deserved reputation as an able and ju- 
dicious executive. 

In June, 1873, Mr. Jewell was appointed United States Minister 
to Russia, and soon after proceeded to the scene of his duties at 
that distant court. lie proved himself eminently fitted for this 
position, meeting all official requirements to the satisfaction of his 
Government and that of the court to which he was accredited, and 
at the same time answering all social demands in such a way as to 
win the unqualified praise of all Americans visiting St. Fetersburgh, 
whether for business or pleasure. 

Mr. Creswell having retired from the Cabinet, the President, on 
the 3d of July. ls74. appointed Mr. Jewell to the office of Post- 
master- General, lie accordingly took leave of the Russian Mission 
on the 18th of that month, and, returning to the United States, en- 
tered upon the duties of his new position on the first of September. 
In this he brought to hear the rare administrative ability which lie 
had employed in the management of large and successful business 
enterprises. He has labored with great energy to have the postal 
service conducted economically, honestly, and efficiently in the 
interests of our vast and widely-extended population. 

56 



GEOEGE H. WILLIAMS. 

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. 



'EORGE H. WILLIAMS was born in Columbia County, 
New York, March 23, 1823. He received an academ- 

j^<> ieal education in Onondaga County, and entered upon 
the study of law, in which he made unusual proficiency. Soon 
after his admission to the bar in 1844 he emigrated to Iowa. 
In 1847 he was elected Judge of the First Judicial District of 
Iowa. In 1852 he was a Presidential Elector on the Democratic 
ticket. In 1853 he received from President Pierce the appoint- 
ment of Chief-Justice of the Territory of Oregon, and immediately 
made his residence on the Pacific Coast. He was reappointed by 
President Buchanan in 1857, but soon after resigned. He was a 
member of the Convention which formed a Constitution for the 
State of Oregon. 

While Oregon was under the absolute control of the Democratic 
party Mr. Williams became a Republican, and did much to pro- 
mote the success of that party in the State. In 1864 he was elected 
a United States Senator from Oregon for the term ending in 1871. 
He took a most active part in all the important legislation relating 
to Reconstruction. On the first day of the second session of the 
Thirty-ninth Congress he brought before the Senate a bill "To 
Regulate the Tenure of Civil Offices," which was referred to a com- 
mittee, and subsequently, with modifications, passed over the veto 
of President Johnson. On the 4th of February, 1867, Mr. Will- 
iams introduced a bill "To Provide for the More Efficient Gov- 
ernment of the Insurrectionary States," which was referred to the 
Committee on Reconstruction. As subsequently reported and passed 
it was known as the Military Reconstruction Act, one of the most 

57 



2 GEORGE H. WILLIAMS. 

important legislative enactments in the history of the country. He 
served with much ability as a member of the Committee on Finance, 
the Judiciary, and other important committees. No member of the 
Senate, within recent years, has taken a more influential position, 
in a single term of service, than Mr. Williams. 

In 1870 the Republican party sustained a temporary reverse in 
Oregon, leaving it with a minority in the Legislature, and conse- 
quently Mr. Williams was succeeded in the United States Senate 
by a Democrat, Hon. James K. Kelly. He was appointed a mem- 
ber of the Joint High Commission which convened for the consid- 
eration of the "Alabama Claims" in the spring of 1871. The 
services which he with his associates rendered the country in this 
capacity were invaluable. 

In 1872 Mr. Williams was appointed Attorney-General of the 
United States. A few days after his appointment several gentlemen 
from the Pacific Coast called upon him and tendered their congrat- 
ulations. The Attorney-General replied in an eloquent impromptu 
speech, in the course of which he said : " I have the honor to he 
the first Cabinet officer taken from the Pacific Coast. California, 
Nevada, Oregon, and the Territories of the Far West may now 
consider themselves represented in every branch of the Government. 
I feel a pride in their growth and development, and I shall not for- 
get in my new office where my home is, or what I have learned of 
their wants and interests, by a residence of twenty-seven years on 
the sunset side of the Mississippi River." 

The death of Mr. Chase having made vacant, the Chief-Justice- 
ship of the United States Supreme Court, Mr. Williams was 
nominated by the President for that high position. Much oppo- 
sition having been developed to his confirmation, the nomina- 
tion was recalled at the request of Mr. Williams. He subse- 
quently resigned the office of Attorney-General, and was suc- 
ceeded by Judge Pierrepont. 

58- 




<UXiU> aUAAl CuaAaIo 






; 




EDWARDS PIEEEEPOKT, 

ATTORNEY-GENERAL. 



DWARDS PIERREPONT is a native of North Haven, 
Connecticut, and is a direct descendant of Rev. James 
Pierrepont, one of the founders of Yale College, and the 
common ancestor of the distinguisned families of Pierre- 
pont, Edwards, and Dwight. He graduated at Yale College, in the 
class of 1S37, with very high honors. His legal education was 
received at the New Haven Law School, of which Judge Daggett 
was then the head. In 1840 he was admitted to the bar, and pur- 
sued his profession with great success. In 1846 he married the 
daughter of Samuel A. Willoughby, her mother being of the old 
Dutch family of De Bevoise, in Brooklyn. In 1857 'Sir. Pierre- 
pont was elected Judge of the Superior Court of New York, to till 
the vacancy caused by the death of Chief Justice Oakley. In 1860 
he resigned his seat upon the bench and resumed the practice of 
law, and has for many years been one of the most distinguished 
lawyers at the New York bar. 

Until the breaking out of the civil war Judge Pierrepont had 
always been a Democrat, but from the first he took an active part 
against the Rebellion. He was a member of the Union Defense 
Committee, and a zealous supporter of the administration of Presi- 
dent Lincoln. In 1802 he was appointed with General Dix to try 
the prisoners of State then confined in the various prisons and forts. 
In 1S64 he was one of the most active in organizing the War Dem- 
ocrats in favor of the re-election of President Lincoln. In 1867 he 
was a member of the Constitutional Convention of the State of 
New York, and one of the Judiciary Committee. In the spring of 
1867 he was employed by the Attorney-General and the Secretary 

59 



2 EDWARDS PIERBEPONT. 

of State to conduct the prosecution on the part of the Government 
against John IT. Surratt, indicted for aiding in the murder of 
President Lincoln. This celebrated trial commenced before the 
United States District Court in the city of Washington on the 10th 
day of June and lasted until the 10th day of August, 1867. 

In the presidential contest of 186S, and also in 1872, Judge 
Pierrepont was an ardent supporter of General Grant, making very 
large contributions in money and effective speeches on the Repub- 
lican side. General Grant, upon his accession to the presidency, 
appointed Mr. Pierrepont Attorney of the United States for the 
Southern District of New York, which office he resigned in July, 
1S70. In 1872 Judge Pierrepont received the honorary degree of 
LL.D. from Yale College, and the same honor from Columbia Col- 
lege in 1871. In May, 1873, President Grant appointed Judge 
Pierrepont American Minister at the Russian Court, an honor 
which he declined. In the autumn of 1870 he was one of the most 
active of the " Committee of Seventy " against the " Ring Frauds" 
of New York. 

Mr. Pierrepont has long ranked among the ablest and most elo- 
quent political orators of the country. His first public speech 
which attracted attention, was delivered on the death of Theodore 
Sedgwick, about a year and a half before the fall of Fort Sumter, 
in which he foreshadowed the war. After a review of the relations 
between the North and South at that time he said: "Sure as the 
punishment of sin, great troubles are coining in the distance which 
we shall be called on to meet. I have said this much, Mr. Presi- 
dent, being well aware that I speak in advance of the times; but I 
leave the times to overtake these fleeting words, and leave the wis- 
dom or fully of what I have said to be determined by the years 
which shall come in our life-time.'' 

On the 1st of November, 186-1, Judge Pierrepont addressed an 
immense meeting at Cooper Institute in favor of the re-election of 
Mr. Lincoln. In this speech he gave evidence of the statesman- 
ship which consists in capability of successfully grasping the polit- 
ical questions of the hour and leading the current of public opinion. 
GO " 



EDWARDS PIERREPONT. 3 

On the 6th of March, 1865, just before the final campaign, Mr. 
Pierrepont addressed a mass meeting in Union Square upon the 
state of the war, the financial condition of the North, and its abil- 
ity to continue the struggle till the enemy should be conquered and 
the Union restored. 

On the 21st of October, 1868, Mr. Pierrepont addressed a great 
assembly at the Cooper Institute in favor of the election of General 
Grant, was an active supporter of his administration, and earnest 
in aid of his re-election in 1872. 

In June, 1871, Mr. Pierrepont delivered a very able address in 
the city of Washington, before the Law School, to the graduating 
class and an immense audience. In this speech he made the re- 
markable assertion that " no man without an upright mind, and no 
man who has not maintained his integrity, has ever died leavino- 
the reputation of a great lawyer." 

True to this noble maxim, Mr. Pierrepont stands high in his 
profession. He has unrivaled skill in the cross-examination of 
witnesses. As an advocate he arranges his facts in a manner that 
one seems to grow out of the other in such logical sequence that 
when the statement is made the argument is concluded. His re- 
markable power in the lucid statement of facts, and of adhering to 
them under every difficulty and counter-influence, constitute the 
force and charm of his advocacy. To an unprejudiced mind he 
generally conveys his own convictions, because they are convictions 
founded on truth. 

Mr. Pierrepont has given much study to the subject of finance, 
and as early as October, 1872, he made a speech in which he took 
strong ground in favor of an early return to specie payments, and 
insisted that the country could have no lasting prosperity until we 
adopted the standard of the commercial world. 

In the winter of 1874 he wrote a letter upon the finances, and 
proposed a plan for a return to a sound system ; this letter was 
addressed to Hon. John Sherman, Chairman of the Finance Com- 
mittee of the United States Senate, and attracted much public at- 
tention. In September, 1874, he delivered an able speech at 

61 



4 EDWARDS PIERREPONT. 

Cooper Institute in which he treated at great length upon the 
financial question, and pointed out the causes of depression of the 
industries of the country, and proposed the remedy. In the same 
speech he treated of the government of the South also. 

In June, 1873, he delivered an oration in the Center Church at 
New Haven before the Alumni of the Law Department of Yale 
College. The title of this address, as published, is " The Influence 
of Lawyers upon Free Governments, and the Influence of Moral 
Forces upon the Prosperity of Governments." It is remarkable 
for literary merit, high moral tone, and sound instruction rendered 
luminous by apt historical illustrations. How eloquent and appro- 
priate were his words of warning will appear from the following 
brief extract : — ■ 

" Yes; and fail we shall, unless a change comes over the spirit 
of this people, and sturdy honesty drives out imbecility and cor- 
ruption ! Moral forces as well as physical advantages must be con- 
sidered in calculating the future of a nation. No Government can 
prosperously endure which, in the main, is not administered by the 
higher intellect and the higher moral sentiments of the people." 

On the resignation of the Hon. George H. Williams, in April, 
1875, Mr. Pierrepont was appointed to the office of Attorney-Gen- 
eral of the United States, and entered upon the duties of that 
high position with the distinctly pronounced approval of the entire 
country. 

62 



THE 

SUPREME COURT. 




^.sf.fez^r 









MORRISON R. WAITE, 

CHIEF-JUSTICE. 



jfORRISON REMICK WAITE was born in Lyme, 
Connecticut, November 29, 1816. He is the eldest of 
&-VC tne eight children of the late Chief-Justice Henry Matson 
Waite. of Connecticut. His ancestors settled in Lyme, 
Connecticut, nearly a hundred years before the Revolution. One 
of the earliest ancestors, whose name has been preserved, was Thomas 
Waite, whose son, Marvin Waite, was on the first electoral ticket 
in Connecticut after the war, and cast his vote for Washington. 
He had nineteen elections to the General Assembly, was Judge 
of the county court for several years, and one of the commission- 
ers to sell the State's lands in the "North-western Territory" and 
to fund the proceeds. This was the origin of the noble school fund 
of Connecticut. 

A half-brother of Judge Marvin Waite was Remick, of Lvmo, 
who married Susannah Matson, a sister of the mother of Hon. 
William A. Buckingham, late Governor of Connecticut, and now a 
Senator in Congress. The eldest son of Remick was Henry Mat- 
son Waite. who was horn in Lyme, February 9, 1787. and gradu- 
ated at Yale College in 1S09, with high reputation for ability. He 
studied law under the direction of Governor Matthew Griswold, 
became a lawyer of learning and ability with a large and gen- 
eral practice, and was frequently elected to the lower branch of the 
Legislature. In 1832 and 1833 he held a seat in the State Senate, 
in 1834 he was chosen an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court 
of Connecticut, and in 1S54- was appointed Chief-Justice by the 
almost unanimous vote of both branches of the Legislature. He 
65 



2 MORRISON R. WAITE. 

held this uffiee until 1857, when lie reached the seventieth year 
of his age, the limit prescribed by the State Constitution. He died 
December 14, 18G9. It has been said that no one ever held the 
office of Chief-Justice of Connecticut who possessed in a higher 
degree the esteem of the bar and the confidence of the people. He 
married, in 1816, Maria, daughter of Col. Eichard Selden, of Lyme, 
and grand-daughter of Col. Samuel Selden of the same town, an 
officer of the Revolutionary army. Mrs. Waite was a woman of 
superior intellect and character, and many of her qualities are 
reflected in her children. 

The present Chief-Justice entered Yale College at the age of 
seventeen years, and graduated with honor in 1837 in a class which 
included William M. Evarts, Edwards Pierrepont, Prof. Benjamin 
Silliman, Jr., and others who have become influential and distin- 
guished men. He stood high as a scholar, and was eminently gen- 
ial, courteous, and unobtrusive. Ho was distinguished for his 
evenly-developed and well-balanced mind. 

After graduating Mr. Waite began the study of law in his 
father's office in Lyme, but finished his studies, preparatory to ad- 
mission to the bar, in the office of Samuel M. Young, Esq., thou a 
prominent, attorney in Mauraee City, Ohio. On his admission in 
1S39 he formed a partnership with Mr. Young. Tin' firm having 
determined to remove to Toledo, in 1S5" » Mr. Waite proceeded to 
that place, where lie opened an office and established a successful 
business. Two years later Mr. Young followed, and the firm of 
Young & Waite continued until Mr. Waite's youngest brother, 
Richard, came to the bar, when the brothers formed a part- 
nership, which continued until the elevation of the senior partner 
to the Chief-Justiceship. 

From his advent in practice Mr. Waite's course was stamped 
with success. He quietly and unostentatiously pursued his pro- 
fessional labors, constantly growing in influence and power both 
as a lawyer and a citizen. He was soon acknowledged as a leading 
counselor and advocate in North-western Ohio. His distinguished 
abilitv, his studious habits, and his conciliatory manners, all con- 
66 



MORRISO X B. W A 1TE. ;j 

tributed to his popularity and success. From the first his mind 
was firmly set upon his profession, from which no attraction could 
lure him. As a lawyer he was without ambition, save for such 
distinction as might come of faithful and honorable pursuit of his 
profession. His studious habits and unflagging industry secured 
to him familiarity with the law in all its branches. One who often 
met him as opposing counsel says that " his assertion on any ques- 
tion of law was always accepted as indisputable." He proved him- 
self capable of grasping all the minute details affecting in any way 
a legal question. He manifested a reverence for law which is not 
a mere slavish worship of forms and technicalities, but an intelli- 
gent appreciation of the great principles of truth and right under- 
lying the whole fabric of civilized legislation. 

Politically Mr. Waite was a Whig, until the disbandinent of 
that party, and since that time has been a Republican. He was 
always too deeply engaged in his profession to become much of a 
partisan, and consequently never came to be recognized as a party 
leader. The conservative turn of his mind tended to lead him in 
opposition to radical political measures. This was shown during 
the war in his support of the policy of Mr. Lincoln, rather than 
the more summary measures advocated by some of the antislavery 
leaders. But to all the war measures of the Government he gave 
earnest and effective support, making himself especially useful in 
aiding the recruiting service of the army. 

In 1849 Mr. Waite was elected to the Ohio Legislature as a 
Whig, and served with credit and usefulness, although acting with 
the minority. In 1850 he was a candidate for the State Constitu- 
tional Convention, but was defeated on strict party grounds — there 
being a large Democratic majority in the district. In 1862 he very 
reluctantly became a candidate for Congress, after repeated ami 
persistent importunities from prominent citizens of both parties. 
Leading Republicans in the State had advised the people of the 
various districts to disregard strict party lines, and unite on the 
simple basis of the support of the Government and the suppression 
of the rebellion. In the Toledo Congressional District a conveu- 
67 



4 MORRISON R. WAITE. 

tion was held, which urged more radical measures than those which 
the Administration had adopted, demanding the confiscation of the 
property of leading rebels, and proposing virtually to make the 
abolition of slavery an end rather than an incident of the war. 
About the same time appeared a call, signed by Republicans and 
Democrats, for a convention of those " who were for the maintenance 
of the Government and the determined prosecution of the war, to 
the putting down of the rebellion and the restoration of the Union.*' 

The first of these conventions nominated Mr. J. M. Ashley, and 
adopted a radical antislavery platform ; while the other nominated 
Mi-. Waite, and indorsed the war-policy of the Administration, 
pledging itself in all ways and at all times to give its full and 
undivided support to such measures as the Government should 
deem necessary to crush out in the shortest time the wicked rebel- 
lion. Not long after this Edwin Phelps was brought out as the 
Democratic candidate. Through the superior organization and 
management of Mr. Ashley's friends, and the lack of organization 
(.hi the part of the supporters of Mr. Waite, the former succeeded 
by a purality vote of seven thousand and thirteen to five thousand 
eight hundred and fifty lor Waite. and live thousaud two hundred 
and thirty-four for Phelps. The high esteem in which Mr. Waite 
was held at home is shown in the fact that he received within five 
hundred of all the votes casl in Toledo — having a majority of 
twelve hundred, the mosl emphatic indorsement ever given to any 
man by the people of that city. 

The position of Mr. Waite was substantially the one on which 
the war was conducted to the end. Mr. Lincoln's preliminary proc- 
lamation of emancipation appeared during that campaign, and it 
was heartily sustained by Mr. Waite and his friends, not only as 
just toward the rebel slaveholders and the slaves, but as sound 
war policy, inasmuch as it was calculated to promote the " para- 
mount object — to save the Union." Although not a zealous parti- 
san, he has always been decided and positive in his expression of 
opinions in strictest accord with the principles and policy of the 
Republican partv. 

68 



MORRISON R. WAITE. 5 

Tin' friends of Mr. Waite liave repeatedly urged him to become 
a candidate for judicial positions, but he invariably refused. When 
Judge Hocking Hunter, having been elected to the Supreme Bench 
of Ohio, declined to serve, Governor Brough offered the posi- 
tion to Mr. Waite, who declined the honor. 

The first position occupied by Mr. Waite, in which he attracted 
the attention of the whole country, was that of counsel for the 
United States in the arbitration at Geneva, associated with Hon. 
Caleb Gushing and Hon. William M. Evarts. lie was not an 
applicant for the appointment, and was not even aware that such a 
position was to be filled. The appointment was made at the sug- 
gestion of Secretary Delano. In November, 1872, Mr. Waite being 
in New York closing up an important case which had been pend- 
ing for a year and a half, received a dispatch, forwarded to him 
from Toledo, appointing him one of the counsel for the Govern- 
ment at Geneva, lie accepted, and in December departed for his 
post of duty. 

lie performed the required service to the entire satisfaction of 
the Government and the country, lie took a laboring oar in the 
preparation of the case. Me submitted an argument on the ques- 
tion of the liability of Great Britain for permitting the Anglo-Con- 
federate steamer to take supplies of coal in her ports. In that 
effort he displayed high logical power and comprehensive grasp 
of international questions. 

Having successfully closed his labors at Geneva, Mr. Waite re 
turned to his home and resumed the practice of hi? profession. In 
April. 1873, he was nominated by both political parties, and unan- 
imously elected one of the delegates from Lucas County to the 
Convention called to form a new Constitution for the State of 
Ohio. Upon the assembling of that convention in May, 1873, Mi'. 
Waite was chosen its president. 

The death of Chief-Justice Chase having created a vacancy in 

the highest judicial office in the United States, there was intense 

interest throughout the country to know who would receive the 

nomination. Hon. George II. Williams and lion. Caleb Gushing 

69 



MORRISON R. WAITE. 



having been successively nominated ami withdrawn, on the 20th 
of January, 1874-, the President sent to the Senate the name of 
Mr. Waite. Jusl one year before, Mr. Waite, on the motion 
of Caleb dishing, had been admitted to practice in the Supreme 
Court. The nomination was the more honorable because of the 
fact that Mr. Waite not only made no effort to influence the Presi- 
dent's choice, but advised against such efforts when offered by his 
friends. Not only was the appointment made without any solici- 
tation on the part of Mr. Waite, but it is believed that no pressure 
was brought to bear upon the President to bring about the result. 
Never was an appointment made to this high office in a manner that 
better befitted it. 

The nomination was received with general approval by the coun- 
try. The " Mew York Times" pronounced the nomination "a 
thoroughly respectable one, evincing in the President an earnest 
desire to discharge his very difficult duty in a conscientious manner. 1 ' 
"The Cleveland Herald" said "thai out of the entire list of possi- 
ble appointees, not one name presented stronger claims of eminent 
fitness than that of Mr. Waite. The qualities most needed for the 
high office are precisely those for which he is most distinguished." 
The "Detroit Tribune'' said, "He combines the three qualifies 
tions which the complications attending this important, matter 
made it certain must, characterize the next nominee, namely, pro- 
fessional fitness for the place, a record of original Republicanism, 
and a reputation for honor and integrity without blemish and 
above suspicion." 

The " Detroit Free Press" (Dem.) pronounced the nomination 
" the hest the President has ever made." The "Cleveland Leader'' 
said, "The mantle of Chief-Justice Chase has fallen upon another 
Ohio lawyer, of whom it is but just to say that he i- worthy of the 
office and of the great man whom he succeeds. Among all the 
eminent lawyers from whom the: President might have fitly chosen 
a successor to Mr. Chase, none, we are assured, could have been 
more acceptable to the Senate, the bar, and the people generally, 
irrespective of parties." The "Cincinnati Gazette" said, " The 
70 



M(> KIMS UN R. WAITE. 7 

nomination is not only unexceptionable in every way. but is an 
admirable one. The selection is honorable to General Grant, and 
befits the high character the Supreme Conrt should have. Mr. 
Waite is a lawyer of thorough training and of large practice, and 
lias long ranked with the first lawyers of a State not lacking in 
high legal talent." The " Louisville Courier-Journal" said. " Mr. 
Waite doubtless possesses the solid virtues which will win for him 
a reputation not less enduring, nor hardly less honorable, than that 
which is acquired by a dazzling display of more brilliant genius. 
He will make a safe and conservative judge." 

When the news of the nomination reached the Ohio Constitu- 
tional Convention it found that body in session, with Mr. Waite 
presiding. A gentleman stepped up to congratulate him and found 
him ignorant of the fact of his nomination. The news was received 
in the most enthusiastic manner by the members, to all of whom 
Mr. Waite had become personally endeared. Unusual excitement 
prevaded the convention during all the remainder of the day, but 
the calm, unruffled dignity of the presiding officer would not have 
revealed the fact that anything unusual had occurred. 

The Cincinnati Chamber of Commerce gave a public reception 
to the new Chief-Justice and the Convention over which he pre- 
sided, having previously adopted the following resolution : 

•• 12, solved, That this Chamber has heard with lively satisfaction 
of the confirmation of lion. Morrison R. Waite as Chief Justice of 
the Supreme < lourt of the United States, and rejoice that a citizen 
of our State of such well-known integrity of character and talent 
has been chosen for the second position in our Government.*' 

Mr. Waite was confirmed as Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court 
of the United States by a vote which was never equaled in its 
favorable character within the memory of the oldest senator. The 
nomination was disenssed for about an hour, during which speeches 
were made by Mr. Sumner. Mr. Sherman, Mr. Edmunds, and Mi-. 
Thunnan. The speech of Mr. Sumner was one of the best and 
most impressive which he ever delivered in the Senate. He spoke 
with much feeling of the importance of the office and the great 

71 



8 MORRISON R. WAITE. 

responsibility of the Senate, and paid a high tribute to the profes- 
sion of tiie law, and to some of the great judges and lawyers of the 
past. Mr. Sherman spoke of Mr. Waite's high standing at home, 
and assured the Senate there was not a man in the world who had 
the respect and admiration of his neighbors to a greater degree 
than he. Not a breath of suspicion or reproach had ever been cast 
upon him, and the senator did not believe that a man existed 
whose character was more spotless, or whose sense of justice and 
honor was more acute. During the entire discussion not a word 
was said in opposition to the nominee. The nomination was 
spoken of by all a- creditable. When the discussion was ended a 
vote was taken by yeas and nays, and the result was something 
which rarely, if ever, occurred in the Senate. He received every vote 
cast. Sixty-three senators voted for his confirmation, and not one 
against him. Chief- Justice Waite took the oath of office March 4, 
1S74, and immediately entered upon the duties of his high office. 

He was married September 21, L840, to Miss Amelia < '. Warner, 
of Lyme, Connecticut. They have for many years been active 
members of the Protestant Episcopal Church. They have had five- 
children, three of whom are living: a son who is Superintendent 
of the Cincinnati and Muskingum Valley Railroad, another sou 
who has recently been admitted as a partner in the law firm at 
Toledo, and a daughter at lion 

In the prime of intellectual vigor, of prepossessing presence ami 
dignified manners, Chief-Justice Waite will not only ably till, hut 
really adorn, the high position to which he has attained. He has 
the logical skill, the judicial temper, and the just mind which com 
bine to make the jurist. Added to these high professional quali- 
ties, lie is distinguished for purity of character, a large humanity, 
a generous nature, and a loyalty to his convictions, which make 
him beloved and respected as a man. 
72 




\yv Gc//>fZ &<v? 



<r^c& 






NATHAN CLIFFORD. 

ASSOCIATE JUSTICE. 



W"ATHAN CLIFFOED was born inRumney, Grafton Coun- 
ty, New Hampshire. August 18, 1803. His ancestors emi- 

l^y' grated from England at an early period and settled in the 
southern part of New Hampshire. His grandfather re- 
moved to Rumney, where his father resided until his death, in 1812. 
The former served as an officer through the Revolutionary War, 
and was in all the important battles from Bunker Hill toYorktown. 
His great-grandfather on the mother's side was in the old French 
War, and was wounded at Bractdoek's defeat. 

Young Clifford received the rudiments of education in the public 
schools of his native place, which he attended only a few months in 
a year. At the age of fourteen, having profited enough by this 
limited instruction to understand its deficiencies, he succeeded, with 
the reluctant consent of his parents, in becoming a pupil in Haver- 
hill Academy, where he remained until 1S20. He then availed him- 
self of the superior advantages of the Literary Institution at New- 
hampton. At the latter place he was able to prosecute his studies 
but little more than a year, and at the expiration of that time he 
entered the office of Hon. Josiah Quincy as a student at law. 
During this period of four years, from the age of fourteen to that 
of eighteen, he had literally worked his way — teaching school at 
intervals, and receiving little or no aid from his family — through a 
course of culture which fitted him for the successful study of his 
chosen profession. 

At that time admission to the bar in New Hampshire could only 
be obtained after a laborious preparation of five years, and this 
73 



2 NATHAN CLIFFORD. 

term, though interrupted by his necessary resort to school teaching, 
Mr. Clifford had faithfully completed in 1827. In May of that 
year the Supreme Court of New Hampshire admitted him to 
practice, and he at once removed to the western portion of Maine, 
and established himself at Newfield, in the County of York. He 
carried with him there not only a substantial fund of legal knowl- 
edge, but habits of industry and reflection which could not fail con- 
stantly to increase it. He consequently soon made his way to the 
confidence of the people, and found himself in possession of a 
lucrative and increasing business, lie carried with him also to Id- 
new home political opinions which had been early formed in the 
school of Democracy, hut which he found directly opposed to those 
of the community among whom he was now to reside. Of about 
three hundred voters at that time in Newfield there were scarcely 
twenty Democrats, and it marks strongly the influence which he 
had gained there, and the estimation in which his character was 
held by his fellow-townsmen, that in the fall of 18:10 he was elected. 
by a majority of one hundred and one, to represent them in the 
State Legislature. To this position he was three times successively 
re-elected, and in is: 1 !:;, having received the unanimous vote o'f his 
party friends in caucus, he was chosen Speaker of the House. He 
presided with an ability and fairness which gained him the approv- 
al of even his political opponents, and made his elevation to the 
same office in the following year no less a recognition of his own 
desert than a compliance with general usage. 

Haying already become a leading member of the bar in the 
county where he resided, be was now to have an opportunity of ex- 
tending his practice- and acquaintance throughout the State. In 
1834- he was appointed Attorney General of Maine, and continued 
in the successful discharge of the duties of that office until the close 
of his official term in 1838. The Supreme Court had then, besides 
its usual docket of appealed cases, original jurisdiction of all crimes 
against the State. Mr. Clifford's labors in his new capacity were, 
therefore, onerous and important. He performed them, however, 

with the same fidelity and care which have marked his whole career 
7-t 



X A r il AN ( I. I F FOR D. 3 

in life, and resumed his local practice at their conclusion with an 
enlarged reputation and increased success. But his retirement was 
soon to terminate by his removal to a broader sphere of public duty. 

One of the severest political contests ever known in Maine was 
thai of the autumn of 1838. The Democratic party having been 
defeated the previous year, ardently took the Held to recover the 
State, and sought to strengthen their ticket in every section bj the 
nomination of their best and strongest men. Under these circum- 
stances Mr. Clifford was nominated and elected a Representative to 
Congress from the district in which lie lived. Pie took his seat at 
the opening of the stormy session of 1839-40, when the organiza- 
tion of the House depended upon the decision of the New Jersey 
case. Mi'. Clifford delivered one of the most able and elaborate 
speeches which that discussion produced. From the terms of the 
Constitution, from the analogy of precedents, and from the authority 
also of reason ami propriety, he argued with convincing force not 
only that the House had power to determine the election returns 
and qualifications of its own members; that this power commenced 
with their first assembling in Congress ; that it was as competent to 
investigate a Governor's certificate as it was to investigate any other 
presumptive proof; and that when, as in the case under considera- 
tion, that certificate wa- controlled by unquestionable evidence, it 
was not only the right, but the imperative duty, of the House to dis- 
regard it. The issue of this Important question was in accordance 
with these views. 

But the Twenty-sixth Congress was not destined to repose, even 
after the violence of its organization. The nomination of General 
Harrison by the Whig Convention at Harrisburgh had opened the 
presidential campaign with a warmth and ardor seldom equaled, 
and the rising contest gave shape and color to almost all the subse- 
quent discussions in the capital. In the House the whole field of 
politics was thrown broadly open, and Mr. Clifford improved the 
occasion thus offered to review, in the clearest manner, the history of 
American parties, and to deduce from it the cardinal sentiments by 
which they were then divided. A large edition of this speech was 
75 



4 NATHAN CLIFFORD. 

published and its wide circulation in his own district, contributed, 
no doubt, to swell his majority in the next election. He was one of 
those Democrats who survived the political storm of 1840. 

One of the first acts of the new administration was to call a 
special meeting of Congress, and Mi-. Clifford's second term, there- 
fore, embraced the first, three sessions < if the Tyler period. They 
were marked by discussions of the deepest interest, involving a 
thorough examination of every prominent political question ot' the 
time. Warmly opposed to the whole series of Whig measures then 
proposed — the national hank, the protective tariff, the bankrupt law, 
the assumption of State debts, and the distribution of the procei d 
of the pul>li<- land- Mi-. Clifford during the Twenty-seventh Con- 
gress defined his views concerning them not only by his votes hut 
h\ hi- speeches. His reported arguments, especially those on the 
tariff and the distribution hill, furnish tin- most honorable testimony 
hot! i of his steadfast adherence to his principles and the vigor of his 
intellect. lie never failed to wage unrelenting war againsl any 
other protection of American industry than that which incidentally 
results from a well-arranged system of revenue duties. 

It has long been the usage in Maine, and the Northern States 
generallj', not to return the same representative to Congress for 
more than two successive terms. Under the influence of this limi- 
tation Mr. Clifford wasexclu igain representing his district 
in the House. He took leave of Congress, therefore, on the 3d 
of March, L843, and at once returned to his profession in Newfield. 
lie retired from Congress with a high reputation not only for ability 
in debate, but tor a thorough and accurate knowledge of parliament' 
ary laws. Such was his amenity of temper, and his courteous and 
dignified bearing, that, notwithstanding his zealous and unflinching 
support of hi- political opinions, he was able to preserve the most 
cordial relations with all his Congressional associates, and to carry 
with him to his home their best wishes for his personal success. 

The summer of 184:1 witnessed the largest assembly of delegates 
■which the Democratic party had ever convened in Maine. It met 
in the city of Bangor for the double Durpose of selecting a candidate 
76 



NATHAN CLIFFORD. 5 

for Governor, and of choosing delegate* to represent the State in 
the approaching Democratic National Convention. Over that as- 
sembly Mr. Clifford was chosen to preside, and he was subsequently 
a member of the Baltimore Convention which nominated James K. 
Polk for the presidency. Although his original preference had been 
for the re-election of Mr. Van Bnren, he supported the nomination 
with untiring ardor during the animated canvass of 1844. He ad- 
dressed large masses of the people in nearly every section of the 
State. Meeting with especial care the tariff issue of the Whigs, he 
did more, perhaps, than any other political speaker of that period, 
to disseminate among the voters of Maine the principles of the 
Democratic party on the subject of " protection." Largely through 
his efforts his party achieved a victory at the fall election in the 
State, the influence of which was felt in every quarter of the Union. 
With these occasional interruptions Mr. Clifford, after leaving 
Congress, devoted himself with great assiduity to the business of his 
profession. He had again obtained a large practice, when he was 
summoned by President Polk to a place in his Cabinet, as Attorney- 
General of the United States. He discharged the duties of that 
office in a manner to prove himself a worthy successor of those who 
had preceded him in that distinguished place. While a member 
of the Cabinet he was appointed Commissioner to Mexico to negoti- 
ate a treaty of peace. The President inadvertently failed to sigu 
his name to the message in which he nominated Mr. Clifford. 
When the secretary informed the Senate, in executive session, of 
this fact, Mr. Webster inquired if the message was in the hand- 
writing of the President, and having been informed that it was, he 
moved that the informality be overlooked, and that they confirm 
Mr. Clifford at once, leaving the signature of the President to be 
appended to the message afterward. The nomination was unani- 
mously confirmed, and the same evening Mr. Clifford set out upon 
this important mission. He landed in Yera Cruz on the Sth of April, 
and soon after was formally received by the American army drawn 
up in line on the plain:- of Mexico. The Commissioner remained 
in the capital until a quorum of the Mexican Congress could be eon- 



(J NATHAN CLIFFORD. 

vened, and then proceeded to the city of Qneretaro, one liundrod 
and fifty miles north of Mexico, where the Government had made 
its head-quarters. After ratifications of peace had been exchanged, 
and the American army had evacuated the country, Mr. Clifford 
remained under a new appointment as Envoy Extraordinary and 
Minister Plenipotentiary. He held this position until October 16, 
1849, when he returned to the United States. 

Returning to Maine he changed his residence to Portland, where 
lie resinned the practice of his profession, forming a partnership 
with Hon. John Appleton, Assistant Secretary of State under Mr. 
Buchanan, and Minister to Russia. He continued to devote him- 
self to the practice of law until 1S58, when he was appointed by 
President Buchanan Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
United States. 

When Mr. Justice Clifford went upon the bench of the Supreme 
Court of the United States nearly all the District Judge3 in hi- cir- 
cuit were old men, almosl past service, consequently an unusual 
amount of labor devolved upon him. lie was untiring in tin- in- 
dustry with which he applied himself to his judicial duties. For 
years lie scarcely took a day of vacation, save snch as were occupied 
in traveling from one court t" another. 

His opinion.-, a- published in some thirty volumes of Supreme 
Court Reports by Howard, Black and Wallace, form an important 
part of the judicial history of tin/ country. He has for several 
\ear- been the senior member of the Supreme Court, and on the 
death of Mr. Chase he became acting Chief-Justice. No living 
American has tilled so many exalted positions in public life. Hi- 
career lias traversed the three great departments of the American 
Government — the Executive, the Judicial, and the Legislative — and 
in every position he lias made a record of distinguished honor. 









• (S-^f.-&v r 



£t^?L^_) 






NOAH H. 'SWATIE, 

ASSOCIATE JUSTICE. 



$|&grOAH H. SWAYXE was bom in Culpepper County, 
3^^ Virginia, December 7, 1804. He was the youngest of 
"Jk-igf' ** ve c ' 1 '' ( -' re " ut Joshua Swayne, a prosperous and influ- 
ential fanner, and a member of the Society of Friends. 
The family were Pennsylvanians, Francis Swayne, the earliest 
American progenitor, having come over with William Penn and 
settled on a farm near Philadelphia, which is still in the hand- of 
his descendants. Joshua S way ne died in IS08, having in the mean 
time removed to Jefferson County, and leaving his children to the 
care of his widow, a woman >A' marked vigor of mind and excel- 
lence of character, who carefully watched over the education of her 
sons. Noah was kept at school in the neighborhood until thirteen, 
when he was sent to the academy of Jacob Meudenhall. at Water- 
ford, in Loudon County, then in high repute with the Society of 
Friends. In his fifteenth year lie was recalled, and placed at Al- 
exandria with Dr. George A. Thornton, a physician of eminence, 
who united witli Ins practice a small apothecary'- -tore. It was 
intended that the studies commenced here should eventually he 
continued in a hospital at Philadelphia, but the plan beiny inter- 
rupted a year later by the death of Dr. Thornton, the design was 
abandoned, circumstances fixing the purpose of the student on the 
study of the law. A collegiate education being deemed prerequi- 
site to this, he returned to school at Alexandria, where, under a good 
classical instructor, he pursued his studies with great earnestness, 
until a thorough preparation for college was accomplished, at which 
time the pecuniary losses of hi- guardian deprived him of the means 
to carry out his purpose. He, therefore, entered at once, as a stu- 



._> NOAH H. SWA YNE. 

dent, the law office of .John Scott and Francis P. Brooks, at War- 
renton, finding there, as a fellow-student. Henry S. Foote, after- 
ward Governor and Senator from Mississippi. A close and lasting 
intimacy of the two arose from this association. 

Admitted to the bar in 1823, the nou-slaveholding example of 
his father, combined with his own observations from the same point 
of view determined him to remove immediately to Ohio. The 
entire journey, in the fashion of those days, was traveled on liorse 
hark. After passing at Zanesville the year of preliminary resi- 
dence, n that time required by law, before attorneys from other 
States were permitted to practice in Ohio, he opened an office, in 
1825, at Coshocton, the county seat of an adjoining county. His 
success was considerable and immediate. During the first year he 
was appointed prosecuting attorney of the county, and was occu- 
pied with this and private practice until 1821), when he was elected 
to the Legislature. 

A pretty ardent Democrat of what was then known as the Jef- 
fersonian school, after serving one term he was invited to various 
paths of political preferment, but chose to return permanently to 
his profession. During the next year he was appointed United 
States An >rney for the Districl of Ohio, and removed to Colum- 
bus, where the courts of the United State- in < >hio were then held. 
These and tin Supreme Court of Ohio offered ample and inviting 
occupation, in view of which he declined the office of Presiding 
Judge of the Common Pleas for that circuit, to which two year- 
later he' was elected by the Legislature. » 

In 1832 he was married, at Harper'.- Ferry, Virginia, to Mis- 
Sarah Ann Wager, of that place. A number of slaves, who became 
his property by the marriage, were, by the joint purpose of his wife 
and himself, immediately manumitted. 

The years following, until his elevation to the Supreme Bench, 
were given to untiring labor at the bar. and varied only by devo- 
tion to domestic life, and to such public interests as engage a gen- 
erous care from private citizens. After nine year- the office of 

District Attorney was relinquished lor exclusive private practice. 

SO 



NOAH H. 8 WAYNE. 3 

In 1837. the fiuances of Ohio having broken down under the burden 
of its public works, then incomplete, Alfred Kelly, Noah II. Swayne, 
und Gustavus Swan were, by a resolution of the Legislature, ap- 
pointed Fund Commissioners, to take charge of the State debt, and 
endeavor to restore credit and supply means to complete the public 
works. The Commissioners served three years, during which time 
both objects were eeonomicallj* carried out, they declining any com- 
pensation for the service. 

A controversy over the location of the east portion of the bound- 
ary line between Ohio and Michigan having occasioned serious 
excitement, followed by an inroad of armed men from Michigan, 
William Allen, Noah II. Swayne, and David T. Disney were sent 
oy the governor to Washington to seek a peaceable solution of the 
controversy, which was finally effected, leaving the disputed ter- 
ritory in Ohio. 

In 1840 William M. Awl, Noah H. Swayne, and James Hoge 
were appointed by the Legislature a committee to inquire and re- 
port upon the number and condition of the blind within the State. 
The labors of the committee were extended and various, resulting 
in the admirable Asylum of Ohio for the Blind, with which, as also 
with the Asylums for the Deaf and Dumb and for Lunatics, Judge 
Swayne was actively connected as trustee for many years, till the 
increasing >cope of his professional engagements compelled him to 
give them up. 

Meantime, what he regarded as subversion of the policy and pur- 
pose of the Democratic party, by the gradual encroachments of 
pro-slavery influence, had occasioned a complete revulsion of polit- 
ical attachment, finding vent in strenuous efforts toward the election 
of Fremont, and strongly identifying him thenceforth with the op 
ponents of the influence above referred to. The disclosure of the 
purpose of secession met his indignant rebuke, and at the outbreak 
of the war nearly his whole time was given to the service of the 
Governor in assisting the Ohio levies to the field. 

The sixth circuit of the Supreme Court of the United States, com- 
prising, at that time, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and .Michigan, was 
81 



4 NOAH H. SWAYNE. 

then presided over by the venerable Judge M'Lean, between whom 
and Judge Swayne warm friendship had existed many year?. The 
wish the former frequently expressed, that he might be succeeded 
by Judge Swayne, originating with himself, had spread, perhaps, 
from him to leading members of the bar within the circuit. Some 
recent argument.- at Washington had had a like effect with other 
members of the Supreme Court, and on the unexpected death of 
Judge M'Lean, a decided expression, from both the bar and the 
court, with tokens of strong popular approval, had the concurrence 
of the President. Judge Swayne was appointed by President 
Lincoln, in February, 1862. a Justice of the Supreme Court, and 
unanimously continued. The discharge of his duty since then has 
been constant and arduous as before. The accuracy and erudition 
of his judicial labors have been promoted by accumulated stores 
from many years' research, resulting from hi- habit of invariably 
noting down whatever ought to be preserved. The resnlts are 
found in the Reports, beyond which we are not furnished with 
details. 

Every occupation and vicissitude of life has been accompanied 
and supported by enthusiastic -tudv of ancient and modern litera 
turc and general knowledge. The degree of LL.D., conferred on 
him by Vale, Dartmouth, and Marietta Colleges, was but a recog- 
nition of the studies of a life-time, the same as had been given to 

his exertions at the bar by his elevation to the bench. 
82 




c)^^l. *9? MxjI^^ 



SAMUEL F. MILLER, 

ASSOCIATE JUSTICE. 



\ m AMTJEL F. MILLER was born in Richmond, Kentucky, 
§^P April 5, 1810. His father was a Pennsylvania German, 
*$tf w '"' em 'S ra ' e< ^ f rom Reading to Kentucky in 1812. His 
mother was a native of Kentucky, of North Carolina 
parentage. His parents being in poor circumstances, his educa- 
tion was obtained under various disadvantages and with continued 
straggle. He graduated in" the medical department of Transyl- 
vania University in 1838, and practiced medicine for several years 
in Knox County, Kentucky, during which time he was married. 
After he had two children, and while in active practice, he deter- 
mined to adopt the law in preference, from an unconquerable repug- 
nance to the profession in which he was then engaged. He studied 
law while practicing medicine, was admitted to the bar in Ken- 
tucky in 1844, and was at once remarkably successful. 

In politics Mr. Miller was a decided Whig, the ardent friend of 
Henry Clay. He supported General Taylor for the Presidency 
with much earnestness. In 181:8, when a Convention was to be 
chosen for revising the Constitution, the people of Kentucky were 
convulsed by the emancipation question. Mr. Miller took an 
active part, and made great efforts to secure the election of dele- 
gates in favor of emancipation. His own county elected an eman- 
cipationist as a dch-gate to the Convention. The new Constitution 
fixed slavery more firmly than ever-on the people, providing, among 
other things, that no slave should he emancipated in the State with- 
out provision by the master for his support. It enunciated the 
odious doctrine that the right of property in slaves does out de- 
83 



2 SAMUEL F. MILLER. 

pend upon statutory enactment, but is a natural right. The Con- 
stitution thus pledging the State to slavery, made Kentucky an 
unpleasant residence for a professional man who had taken the high 
around occupied by Mr. Miller; hence he determined to make his 
home in a free State. Accordingly, in the spring of 1850 he re- 
moved to Iowa, and took lip his residence in Keokuk. That city 
constitutes part of a tract of one hundred and twenty thousand 
acres which had been granted both by treaty and act of Congress 
to the " half-breeds of the Sac and Fox Indian?-." The want of 
any more particular designation of the grantees was a source of 
protracted litigation in the courts of that place. The Federal 
Court for the State was then held there, and in the litigation aris- 
ing out of these circumstances lie soon had a large and varied 
practice, including real estate, admiralty, steamboat, and commer- 
cial r-uits. He immediately took a front rank in his profession, 
and within a year was regarded as leader of the Iowa bar. 

Mr. Miller became a Republican at the incipiency of the party 
in 1854, and cave unsparingly of his time, labor, influence, and 
money to promote its success, lie invariably declined nomina- 
tions for office which were urged upon him, save in asingle instance, 
when, alter repeated refusals to run, he allowed his name to be 
used in a hopeless canvass tor the State Senate. 

When Mr. Lincoln became President there were nine Judicial 
Circuits in the United Slates, five of which were in the South, 
the States o( the North-west and the Pacific coast, having their 
federal Courts held by District Judges alone. There were at the 
same time two or three vacancies on the bench of the Supreme 
Court. Mr. Lincoln sent a message to ( longress suggesting that the 
occasion was favorable for a reorganization and rearrangement 
of the Circuits. His suggestion was adopted, and under the ar- 
rangement thus consummated a new Circuit was constituted from 
the North-western States. The bar throughout these States turned 
almost unanimously toward Mr. Miller as the most suitable man 
for Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. At the same time 
twenty-seven of the thirty-six Senators then in Congress, and 
84 



SAM CEL F . Mil. I. ER. 3 

more than one linndred Representatives, united in requesting his 
appointment. lie was accordingly nominated in July, 1862, and 
was confirmed by the Senate without the usual reference t.i a com- 
mittee. 

Judge Miller** public lite may be said to have commenced with 
his accession to the bench. This occurre 1 at a very critical period 
in the history of the Government. Among the first cases in whose 
decision he participated were the Prize cases reported in Volume II 
<>)' Black's Supreme Court Reports. These not only involved the 
general doctrine:- uf the law of prize which had been in practical 
abeyance in this country since the war of 1S12, but many new and 
difficult questions growing out of the application of those doctrines 
tn a war between different parts of the same country, and especially 
the law of blockade arising under such circumstances. The opin- 
ions of the Court in these cases were mostly delivered by the senior 
judges; but Justice Miller's influence in shaping the judgments of 
the Court, and in determining the principles on which these judg- 
ments were based, was soon felt and acknowledged. 

The cases which perhaps first attracted to him special attention 
were those in which he differed from a majority of the Court. 
Among them were suits from the West, growing out of the efforts 
to enforce the payment of bonds given by municipal corporations 
in aid of the construction of railroads. Against the legality of 
these bonds Judge Miller always steadily opposed his judg- 
ment, and his dissenting opinions in the case of Gelpcke vs. The 
City of Dubuque, (1 Wallace,) and subsequent cases, are among the 
most vigorous of his judicial productions. The highest Courts of 
many of the States have concurred with him, among the most recent 
of which is that of New York. 

But perhaps his most important opinions are those in exposition 
of the clause of the Federal Constitution which ordains that Con- 
gress shall have power to regulate commerce with foreign nation-, 
among the several States, and with the Indian tribes. In the case 
of the United States vs. Holliday (3 Wallace, 407) he delivered the 
opinion of the Supreme Court, holding that the law of Congress 



4 SAMUEL F. MILLER. 

prohibiting the sale of spirituous liquors tu Indians was justified by 
the Constitution, though the liquor was sold within the territorial 
jurisdiction o\' a State, and without the limits of every Indian 
reservation. But the most important and far-reaching of the judg- 
ments of the Supreme Court, delivered by him on that subject is to 
be found in the ease of (Yandall vs. Nevada. (6 Wallace, 35,) in 
which it was held that no State could levy a tax on passengers, or 
on public carriers for conveying passengers through such State on 
the wav to another. Under this decision the odious tax on railroad 
passengers, from which the States of Maryland, Delaware, and New 
Jersey had for many years derived a large revenue, were abandoned 
or held void, and the right of every citizen of this great country to 
avail himself of all the usual modes of travel and conveyance with- 
out paying a tax or tribute for that privilege to the State through 
which he traveled, was decided and established beyond controversy. 

In the eases ^t Lot vs. rliuton and Parham vs. Woodruff (8 Wal- 
lace) he also delivered the opinion of the Court, holding that the 
same clause in the Constitution forbids each State from imposing 
taxes discriminating against the products of sister Static in favor 
of its own. In the railroad tax cases recently decided from the 
State of Pennsylvania, in which the question at issue was the power 
of that State to levy a tax on the railroads of the State for goods 
transported over those roads to or from other States, he declared 
in a dissenting opinion, concurred in by Judges Field and Hunt, that 
by no devise or evasion, by no form of statutory words, can a State 
compel citizens of other States to pay it a tax, contribution, or toll for 
the privilege of having their goods transported through that State 
by the ordinary channels of commerce. 

An opinion delivered on the Circuit in the case of the Clinton 
Bridge, reported in Woolworth's Reports of Miller's Decisions, has 
attracted much attention in Congress and in other places. It de- 
clares that under this same clause in the Constitution it is not only 
the right but the duty of Congress to assume the control and regu- 
lation of all railroad traffic when it exceeds the bounds of a single 
State. This is the first judicial declaration of a principle, to which 

86 



s.\ M I EL F. MILLER. 5 

public attention is now largely and actively directed, as the only 
available relief from the extortions of those overgrown monop- 
olies. 

His dissent in the original decision of the legal-tender question in 
Hepburn vs. Griswold, (S Wallace, 6U3,) attracted universal atten- 
tion from its vigorous and close logical reasoning. In this he meas 
ured strength with the late lamented Chief-Justice, and, as was gen- 
erally conceded, with no discredit by the comparison. The opinion 
thus delivered, concurred iu by Justices Swayue and Davis, left a 
strong impression that the judgment of the majority could not 
stand long as the opinion of the Court, and its reversal inside of 
two years justified that impression. 

In the case of Watson vs. Jones, (13 Wallace, G79,) the grave 
question of the weight to be attached to the action of the ecclesias- 
tical tribunals of the various religious denominations of this coun- 
try when they were brought into the Courts as the foundation of 
civil rights to property, was for the first time brought before the 
Supreme Court of the United States. The decisions of the State 
courts were found to be numerous, somewhat conflicting, and rest- 
ing largely on the facts peculiar to each case. Those of England, in 
which there is an established Church, with mere toleration of 
dissenters, were found not to be in harmony with our institu- 
tions on that subject. After an exhaustive review of the 
whole subject, the principle is laid down that in all questions of 
ecclesiastical doctrine, discipline, and government, the decision of 
the highest tribunal of each denomination as to its own rules on 
those subjects will, in the civil courts, be accepted as the true ex- 
position of the principles of that organization, without further 
inquiry as to their soundness. This judgment has met the general 
approbation of cultivated minds in and out of the Church as one 
which will carry the courts safely through a most embarrassing 
class of cases. 

But, perhaps, the most important opinion of the court during 
Mr. Justice Miller's connection with it, if not ecpial in importance 
to any ever delivered by the court, is that of the Slaughter-House cases 
87 



of the December term, 1S72. It required an exposition of the Thir- 
teenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments to the Constitu- 
tion, which came before the court for the first time in these cases. 
They had been twice argued in the Supreme Court, and had been 
held under advisement for over a year. Public attention was very 
largely turned to the expected result, and it was believed by the 
court, and by many eminent statesmen and constitutional lawyers, 
that the continued existence of the States with any vital powers as 
a part, of our national Government was practically involved in the 
decision. 

In this opinion Mr. Justice Miller, speaking tor the court, held 
that while these amendments secured liberty, suffrage, and equality 
of civil and political rights to the African race, ami placed the 
protection of these rights, and others belonging to citizens of the 
United States, under the control of Congress, the right of the States 
in regard to the control of domestic and internal legislation remained 
unimpaired otherwise than as above expressed. (16 Wallace, 36.) 
The general acquiescence of the public in the soundness of this 
exposition of the recent amendments of the Constitution, and the 
references to it in the recent debate- in ( Jongress on the Civil flights 
bill, leave little room to doubt that it will in future be received as 
the authoritative declaration of the effect of these amendments on 
our political system. 

Mr. Justice Miller has to an extraordinary degree the respect and 
confidence of the bar of the United States. When the recent 
vacancy occurred in the Chief Justiceship there was no name sug- 
gested for the position with so near an approach to unanimity on 
the part of the profession as that of Mr. Justice Miller. With the 
utmost purity of private character, with ^official integrity above sus- 
picion, with talents which singularly befit his judicial eminence, lie 
well deserves the esteem and honor in which lie is universally held. 
As he is in full vigor of mind and body, with great powers of in- 
tellect devoted without distraction to the discharge of the high 
trusts imposed upon him, it is a reasonable expectation that his 
valuable services will long be continued to the country. 
8S 




^^W/^^2X^ 






DAVID DAVIS. 

ASSOCIATE JUSTICE. 



i^^jjtf AVID DAVIS was born in Cecil County, Maryland, March 
9, 1815. He was educated at the Academy in Newark, 
Delaware, and at Kenjon College, Ohio, under the presi- 
dency of Bishop Chase, where he graduated in the year 
1832. Having made choice of the law as his profession, he, in the 
fall of the same year, entered the law office of Judge Henry W. 
Bishop, of Lenox, Massachusetts. In this office, under the judicious 
advice of his preceptor, he pursued his reading in the elementary 
writers for the space of two years, and finally completed his pre- 
paratory studies with another year's attendance oil the lectures of 
the law school in New Haven. Connecticut. 

The great West was already then, as it has remained ever since. 
the alluring field of opportunity and ambition to all young men of 
talent and energy east of the Alleghanies. Mr. Davis pushed out, 
with little save thorough preparation for his chosen profession, to 
what was then the almost extreme frontier. Tn the fall of 1835 he 
located himself in the town of Pekin, the county-seat of Tazewell 
County. Illinois. This was long before the railroad era, and Pekin, 
favorably situated on the Illinois River, the as yet principal com- 
mercial highway through the Prairie State, made claim to promis- 
ing chances of future importance, both as an agricultural and a 
trading center. Here, in the current western phraseology, Mr. 
Davis "hung out his shingle" and began the practice of the law. 
A year's experience, however, convinced him that he had not wisely 
chosen his location. The river towns were at that period, as a rule, 
very unhealthy ; and though he succeeded beyond his expectations 
89 



2 DAVID DAVIS. 

in obtaining professional business, he was, as sunn as the hot sum- 
mer months came, prostrated with the prevalent malaria] fever, 
which unpleasant fact decided him to seek a new home. 

Eastward from Pekin, toward the center of the State, lay the ad- 
joining county of M'Lean, comprising then an almost limitless ex- 
tent of high, grandly undulating prairie, broken by timber belts 
along the streams and occasional groves on the slopes and ridges. 
In this beautiful and fertile region a new community was being 
rapidly concentrated, irresistibly attracted by the local advantages 
of soil and climate, and the still more obvious benefit of cheap 
lands. The now flourishing city of Bloomington, with a popula- 
tion of twenty tlioiisan 1. was then a straggling village of four hun- 
dred and fifty souls, having been located only live years previously. 
As the county seat of M'Lean County, however, it was necessarily 
both the official and political center. In fact the push and enter- 
prise, which have since given it prosperity, were already then stir- 
ring its small bill ambitious population ; and no doutrt Judge Davis 
was at that early beginning of his legal career much cheered to 
find that the embryo metropolis had already, after a four years' ex- 
istence, replaced its first log conrl house, built in 1832 at :: contract 
price of $339 75, by an aspiring brick building 4<'.\4r> feet in size, 
two stories high, the erection of which loaded the county with 

u hat for years proved a crushing debt <>f $8,000. Here among the 
hardy, self-reliant pioneers, who rapidh filled up both town and 
county, and who have contributed their full share t" give central 
Illinois a degree of solid affluence and power unrivaled among the 
newer States, Judge Davis laid the permanent foundation.- of his 
home and fortune, and here he remain- still, except for that portion 
of the year which demands his official labors in Washington. 

In the West every lawyer is necessarily a politician. The struct- 
ure of society is such that ever} man who can think clearly and 
talk fluently is forced, whether he wishes it or not, into an active 
participation in local and general politics; and Lincoln, Douglas, 
Li-owning, Baker, Trumbull, and others, are convincing examples 
that it is not only a spontaneous, hut also a healthy and useful school 
90 



DAVID DAVIS. 3 

of earnest, practical statesmen. The Whig party, then a hopeless 
minority in the State, followed the sagacious policy of nominating 
it> youngest and ablest leaders as candidates for public favor. In 
the hotly contested campaign of 1840 Judge Davis was made the 
Whig candidate for the State Senate from a district comprising 
M'Lean and six other counties, but was defeated by his Democratic 
competitor. He had, however, made a canvass so satisfactory to 
his party, having only been beaten by a small majority in the seven 
counties, that two years later, in 1842, he was again nominated by 
his Whig friends for the lower house of the State Legislature, which 
nomination he declined. 

Two years afterward the call to party leadership for the third 
time was so pressingly urged upon him that he could not refuse it. 
This contest resilted in his election as the Whig representative to 
the State Legislature, in which capacity he served acceptably to his 
friends and usefully to the public during the winter of 1S44-5. 
The most important measure of the session, and in the furtherance 
of which he actively joined, was that relating to the Illinois and 
Michigan Canal, at that time a most vital scheme of internal im- 
provement for Illinois, which had languished and been suspended 
through the financial mismanagement and disasters of 1S36-7. 
Under the favorable legislation and counsels of this session of 
1844-5 this' great work was resumed, and completed three years 
after — a consummation which marks a turning tide from bankruptcy 
t.. solvency in the financial history of Illinois. 

The State having partially recovered from its prostration, was 
now beginning a period of rapid growth and development. Its 
first Constitution, adopted in 1818, had been outgrown for years, 
though fierce partisan rivalry had hitherto prevented its reform. A 
partial lull in politics was succeeded by a popular vote in favor of 
a Constitutional Convention. It was held in the year 1847, and 
Judge Davis was chosen a member without opposition. The 
occasion called together the best men of the State, who, during a 
laborious and earnest session of three months, drafted what was for 
that dav a most admirable instrument, and which was adopted by 



4 DAVID DAVIS. 

an overwhelming vote of the people in the following spring, and re- 
mained unchanged until 1871. The Convention was not wholly 

free from selfish and angry partisanship; but after all, the net re- 
sult was a liberal and statesmanlike yielding of conflicting views, 
and the final engrafting in the Constitution of a large number of 
progressive and most salutary reforms, embracing, among others, a 
limitation of the power of the Legislature to contract debts, a pro- 
hibition of the lending of State credit to individuals or corpora- 
tions a most rigid economy in official salaries, liberal but clearly 
defined qualifications for citizenship and office, the abolition of ap- 
pointments by the Legislature, the substitution of an elective 
judiciary, and. finally, the imposition of a two-mill tax to reduce the 
principal of the State debt — a measure more efficacious than any 
other in restoring the long-lost credit of the State. Judge Davis, 
in common with the other practical and far seeing men of both 
political parties in the Convention, gave his voice and vote for these 
changes, while on appropriate committees he was more immediately 
instrumental in securing a provision against the hasty division of 
counties, and in defeating tin- adoption of a code— thus retaining 
the EngKsh common law practice which still prevails in the State. 
The new organic law went almost immediately into effect, and 
in the same year, 1848, Judge Davis was, without opposition, elected 
one of the nine Circuit Judges provided by the new Constitution. 
Hi- circuit wasaverv large one, embracing, in all, fourteen counties, 
and including both his home town of Bloomington, and Springfield, 
the capital of the State. Of the fourteen years of this judicial 
service which Judge Davis now performed a most interesting 
volume might be written, so full was it of earnest work, of fresh 
impulsive life, and of curious adventure, incident, and humor. The 
hard and monotonous labors of traveling almost incessantly from 
county to county, often dragging through miry roads and swimming 
swollen streams, holding from twenty five to thirty terms of Circuit 
Court every year, were also somewhat relieved by the sincere at- 
tachments he formed among the people, and the hearty hospitality 
with which they welcomed his every return. So well did he dis- 



H A VID DAVIS. 5 

charge the duties of his office that lie was, without opposition, re- 
elected in 1855, and again, withoul opposition, in 1861. Ee had 
jti-t entered upon his third six-years 1 term as Circuit Judge when 
President Lincoln, in 1862, appointed him an Associate Justice of 

the Supreme Court of the Tinted States. 

In 1860 lie was a member of the famous Chicago Convention, 
and wielded important influence in bringing about the nominal ion 
of bis intimate personal and political friend, Abraham Lincoln, 
who, as the leadiuglawyer of Central Illinois, had been engaged in 
almost constant practice throughout the circuit in which Judge 
Davis presided, and in the course of which a close friendship was 
formed and matured between the two men, interrupted only by the 
untimely death of the great President. When the rebellion broke 
out Judge Davis was one of the foremost of the hosts of Union 
men who have made for the State of Illinois such a proud record 
in support of our imperiled Government. Not only did President 
Lincoln constantly seek and receive hi-- friendly advice, but, in 1861, 
be confided to Judge Davis, Judge Holt, and Mr. Campbell the 
delicate and important duty of investigating the Fremont-JVTKinstry 
Quartermaster mismanagements ami corruptions at St. Louis. In 
1872. at the Liberal Republican Convention held in Cincinnati, 
Judge Davis had a large and influential number of adherents, and 
great probability existed for some time of his becoming the nomi- 
nee. The best informed leaders of that movement still think that 
his candidacy would have brought them a much more auspicious 
result at the ballot-box. 

On the Supreme Bench of the United States Judge Davis has 
been for twelve years an unremitting and most efficient worker. 
To characterize him as an administrator of the law, he may be best 
described as possessing, in an eminent degree, what may be termed 
integrity of intellect. With a quick apprehension he looks through 
the surroundings of a case and seizes upon the principle of justice 
and equity which should determine it. Having found this, he 
steadily adheres to the pivotal point upon which the discussion 
turns. There are usually many points raised in a case not necessary 
93 



6 DAVID DAVIS. 

for its determination. It is tlie part of judicial prudence that the 
court should not involve itself in the discussion of difficult questions 
until the necessity of the case demands it. No judge recognizes 
the propriety of this rule of conduct in a greater degree than Judge 
Davis. His opinions are, therefore, noted for their brevity, except 
on a few great occasions which demand elaboration, as in the cele- 
brated Milligan ease. 

It will he remembered that Milligan. a citizen of Indiana, who 
was in no wise connected with the military or naval service, was 
arrested by a military order in October, 1864, on charges of trea- 
sonable acts, tried by a military commission, and sentenced to 
be hung on the 19th of May. lstl.'.. Milligan brought the case to 
the Supreme Court on proceedings by habeas corpus. 

The Judge opens his opinion by the declaration that "the im- 
portance of the main question cannot lie overstated, for it involves 
the very frame-work of the Government, and the fundamental prin 
ciples of American liberty." After appealing to historical prece- 
dents, and citing the principles which control our jurisprudence on 
this subject, lie denies the jurisdiction of the military commission 
in a few well-selected sentences. " When the courts are actually 
closed, then on the theater of active military operations, where war 
really prevails, there is a necessity to furnish a substitute for civil 
authority \- necessity creates the rule, so it limit- it- 
duration ; for if military government is continued after the court- 
are reinstated, it is a gross usurpation of power. "' The army had 
saved the Union. It was lor the court to save tin 1 Constitution. 

Judge Davis was married in October, 1838, at Lenox, Massachu- 
setts, to a daughter of Judge Walker of that place, Miss Sarah W. 
Walker, of whom, with their two children now living, a daughter 
and a son, his family consists. The degree of Doctor of Laws has 
been conferred upon him by the Wesleyan University at Blooming- 
ton. Illinois, by Beloit College of Wisconsin, and by Williams Col- 
lege of Massachusetts. 

94 




jkf*&o*^ %^£ 



STEPHEN J. FIELD, 

ASSOCIATE JUSTICE. 



' giTEPHEN JOHNSON FIELD was born in Haddam, Con- 
iO necticut, November 4, 1810. The removal of his father, 
' .;' Rev. David D. Field. D.D., to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, 
took him to that place, where he passed his childhood. The 
residence of a near relative in the East afforded him the opportunity, 
when he was about thirteen years old, of going to Greece and A-ia 
Minor, in which countries he remained until he was sixteen, travel- 
ing extensively and making himself proficient in the Greek lan- 
guage. Returning to America, he entered "Williams College, Mas- 
sachusetts, where he graduated in 1837 with the highest honors of 
his class. 

He entered upon the study of the law, in the city of New York, 
with his brother, David Dudley Field, whose partner he afterward 
became. After devoting himself to the business of the firm for eight 
years, in 184s Mr. Field again went abroad. Remaining in Europe 
until the next year, he found on his return to the United States 
that, owing to the discovery of gold, a vast tide of population was 
setting toward California. He emigrated thither, and in December, 
1849, arrived on the Pacific coast. After remaining a few days 
in San Francisco, he went to the northern part of the State and 
established himself at Marysville. Before the rapidly accumu- 
lated population of the new country could organize a Territorial 
or State Government, the necessity for a temporary organization of 
courts tbr the administration of justice under the then existing 
(Mexican) laws was met by the proclamation of the militarj gov- 
ernor, acting under the directions <>f the President, for the election 
95 



2 STEPHEN .1. FIELD. 

of judges or alcaldes, and lesser magistrates. Judge Field was 
chosen bv the people alcalde of the Marysville District in January, 
1850, and acted in that capacity until the organization of the 
judiciary under the State Constitution during the following summer. 
He discharged the novel duties .if this difficult position iii such a 
manner a.- to secure universal acquiescence in his decisions, and so 
established order ami a respect fur law and rights among the rest- 
less and discordant elements by which he was surrounded. 

Thi' public confidence, thus secured, manifested itself in his elec- 
tion in the following autumn to a seat in the. Assembly of the State. 
to represent Yuba County, from which the counties of Nevada and 
Sierra have since been created. His term in the Legislature was 
one of activity and usefulness, lie drafted the act " Concerning the 
Court.- of Justice and Judicial Officers " of the State, which de- 
fined the jurisdiction and powers of the different courts and judges. 
This act remained in force, with some alterations principally drawn 
bv himself, until the amendments t" the Constitution of the State 
were adopted in 1862. Of these amendments, it may he here said, lie 
was also the author. With a few changes made in the Legislature, 

the amendments are a- he drew them for the Judiciary Committee 

of the Senate of California. After they were adopted he prepared 
the draft of the present act " Concerning the Courts of Justice and 
Judicial Officers," which was presented by the chairman of the Jndi- 
eiarj Committee. While a member of the Legislature he also in- 
troduced hills to regulate proceedings in civil and criminal cases. 
Those hills were taken from the code- of New York reported by 
the ( Commissioners of the State ; hut over two hundred sections of 
these were rewritten and modified, to meet as well the peculiar con- 
dition of the State and the requirements of its Constitution, as his own 
views of what would constitute the best practice. These bills be- 
came laws, and. with some amendments found necessary during a 
period of nearly twenty year-, remained on the statute-book until 
the adoption of the recent codes, in which they are substantially 
embodied. He was the author of the policy, still adhered to by the 
State, of exempting from execution and forced sale the homestead 



STEPHEN J. FIELD. 3 

and household furniture, the books and instruments of professional 
men, and the tools of farmers, artisans, and miners. He was also 
the author of the following provision of law enacted during his 
legislative term : — 

"In actions respecting mining claims proof shall be admitted of 
the customs, usages, or regulations established and in force at the 
bar or diggings embracing such claim ; and .-uch customs, usages, 
or regulations, when not in conflict with the Constitution and laws 
of California, shall govern the decision of the action." 

This brief provision solved a very perplexing problem, and has 
ever since remained undisturbed. Upon it rests the settled policy, 
not only of California, but of all other States and Territories in which 
the precious metals have since been discovered. This policy has 
also received the sanction, of the National Congress, ami in cases 
arising in the Federal Courts. 

Judge Field resumed the practice of the law in 1851, and con- 
tinued in it successfully until 1>C>7. being employed in a majority 
of cases appealed to the Supreme Court from the northern half of 
the State. In 1S57 he was elected by the people a Justice of the 
Supreme Court of the State (then composed of three judges) by a 
majority larger than had ever been given to any officer in the State. 
The term for which he was chosen commenced in January, L858; 
but a vacancy having meantime occurred, he was appointed by a 
Governor opposed to him politically to till the unexpired term pre- 
ceding that for which he had been elected. He thereupon took his 
seat on the bench in October, 1S57; and on the resignation of 
Judge Terry, in 1859, he became Chief Justice. 

Of his judicial services in this capacity the following account, 
written by Hon. Joseph Ox. Baldwin, who was tor three years an as- 
sociate of Judge Field on the Supreme Bench of California, and who 
is also widely known as the author of " Partisan Leaders," and 
''Flush Times in Alabama and Mississippi," will he read with in- 
terest : — 

"When lie came to the bench, from various unavoidable causes 
the calendar was crowded with cases involving immense interests, 

97 



4 STEPHEN J. FIELD. 

the most important questions, and various and peculiar litigation. 
California was then, as now, in the development of her multiform 
physical resources. The Judges were as much pioneers of law as 
the people of settlement. To be sure something had been done, 
hut much had yet to be accomplished, and something too had to he 
undone of that which had been done in the feverish and anomal- 
ous period that had preceded. It is safe to say, that even in the 
experience of new countries hastily settled by heterogeneous crowds 
of strangers from all countries, no such example of legal or judicial 
difficulties was ever before presented as has been illustrated in the 
history of California. There was no general or common source of 
jurisprudence. Law was to In- administered almosl without a 
standard. There was the civil law. as adulterated or modified by 
Mexican provincialism, usages, and habitudes, for a great part of the 
litigation ; and there was the common law for another part, hut 
what //hi/ was was to he decided from the conflicting decisions of 
any number of courts in America and England, and the various 
and diverse considerations of policy arising from local and other 
facts. And then contracts made elsewhere, and some of them in 

semi civilized countries, had to lie interpreted here: besides all 
which may lie added that huge and important interests peculiar to 
this State existed — mine-, ditches, etc. — for which the courts were 
compelled to frame the law, and make a system out of what was 
little better than chaos. 

•• When, in addition, it is considered that tin unprecedented num- 
ber of contract- and an amount of business without parallel had 
been made and done in hot haste, with the utmost carelessness; 
that legislation was accomplished in the same way, and presented 
the crudest and most incongruous materials for construction; that 
the whole scheme and organization of the government, and the re- 
lation of the departments to each other, had to he adjusted l>\ judi- 
cial construction, it may well he conceived what task even the 
ablest jurist would take upon himself when he assumed this office. 
It is no small compliment to say that Judge Field entered upon the 
duties of this great trust with his usual zeal and energy, and that 



STEPHEN J. FIELD. 5 

he leaves the office not only with greatly increased reputation, hut 
that he has raised the character of the jurisprudence of the State. 
He has more than any other man given tone, consistency, 
and system to our judicature, and laid broad and deep the Founda- 
tion of our civil and criminal law. The land titles of the State, 
the most important and permanent of the interests of a great com- 
monwealth, have received from his hand their permanent protec- 
tion, and this alone should entitle him to the lasting gratitude of 
the bar and the people." 

The court had, before Judge Field became one of its members, 
held that "'the mines of gold and silver found in the public lands, 
as well as in the lands of private citizens, were the property of the 
State by virtue of her sovereignty." He delivered the opinion in 
which this was reversed, and another in which he laid down the 
doctrine that the minerals in the soil belonging to the United 
States pass with the soil by a grant thereof, and that neither the 
sovereignty of the United States, nor of an individual State, ex- 
tends to the ownership of such minerals. Decisions by him, com- 
pelling the fulfillment of obligations by municipal corporations, have 
attracted very general attention, and received high commendation 
from leading jurists and law writers. The decisions of the court 
concerning mortgages are mainly his. 

Judge Field was appointed by President Lincoln to be an Asso- 
ciate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States in 1863, 
all the representatives in Congress from the Pacific Coast uniting in 
urging the appointment. In different departments of the law in 
that court his labors have been considerable; while in all that re- 
lates to the region west of the Rocky Mountains they have been of 
the highest importance, especially in that peculiar class of cases 
growing out of the claim by the city of San Francisco to land, 
as successor of a Mexican Pueblo. In commercial and other 
questions he has taken his share, and in the adjustment, of constitu- 
tional law the opinions delivered by him in the well-known test- 
oath cases in 1867 are remarkable for their clearness and power, 
and will undoubtedly stand the tests of time and reason. His dis- 
99 



6 STEPHEN J. FIELD. 

senting opinions in the confiscation cases, in the legal-tender cases, and 
in the famous New Orleans slaughterhouse ease, which involved 
the construction of the Fourteenth Amendment, also attest both his 
judicial ability and his strong individuality of thought and action. 

In I860 Judge Field received the degree of LL. D. from Williams 
College. In 1869 he was elected Professor of Law in the Univer- 
sity of California by the Regents of that institution, which posi- 
tion he now holds. In 1873 he was appointed by the Governor of 
California one of a commission to examine the code of laws of that 
State adopted at a previous session, and to prepare amendments to 
the same for legislative action. The commission duly made a re- 
port, and its principal recommendations were adopted by the Legis- 
lature. 

During our civil war the Government found in Judge Field one 
of its most patriotic adherents, and most vigilant and active sup- 
porters and defenders. Both his private and public words and 
acts contributed much to secure the steady and unswerving loyalty 
of California in that great crisis. 

100 




//// 1 r/nj 






WILLIAM STRONG, 

ASSOCIATE JUSTICE. 




ILLIAM STRONG was born at Soniers, Tolland Coun- 
ty. Connecticut, May 6, 1808. His father and mother 
were both of English origin. His father's ancestors 
emigrated to this country in 1630. and settled in Massachusetts. A 
branch of the family came at an early day to Connecticut. His 
grandfather was a lawyer of eminence; his father, a graduate of 
Yale College, and a Congregational minister, was settled for many 
years as pastor as Soniers. He owned there a small farm, on 
which his son worked during school vacations. His early educa- 
tion was obtained at the district school of his native town. His 
father took charge of his classical and mathematical studies. He 
was then sent for a year to an academy in Mooson, Massachu 
after which he entered Vale College, at the age of fifteen. There 
he took the full course of four years, and graduated in 1827,high 
in his class. 

After leaving college he taught school for three years and a half, 
to pay the debt incurred in his collegiate education, and to enable 
him to carry out his purpose of pursuing a course of legal studies. 
He then returned to Yale, and entered the Law School, taking part 
of the legal course. Finding his means insufficient, he opened a 
classical and mathematical school in Burlington, New Jersey, at 
the same time pursuing his legal studies under the direction of the 
late lion. Garret D. Wall. Returning to the New Haven Law 
School, he pursued diligently his studies under Judge Daggett, 
afterward Chief-Justice of the Supreme Court of Connecticut, and 
Judge Hitchcock, both very eminent and successful protessorsof law. 
101 



2 W I L LI AM STRONG. 

Graduating at the Law School iu 1S32, Mr. Strong was admitted 

to the bar in Connecticut, and near the close of the year to the bar 
in Philadelphia. 

Under the advice of his friends, Hon. Horace Binney and Hon. 
Charles Chauncy, lie settled in Reading, Berks County, Pennsyl- 
vania. At that time the town and county were thoroughly German, 
and that was the common language used. The young lawyer at 
once addressed himself to the acquisition of the language, and was 
soon able to speak and write it fluently. This was ever after of 
great service to him. His practice grew rapidly and soon became 
large, and he drew around him, in his new home, a large circle of 
warm and influential friends. In 18;!fi Judge Strong married a 
daughter of Hun. Garrick Mallory, presiding Judge of that judi- 
cial district. She died in 1843. In 184:9 he was married to his 
present wife, the daughter of lion. Edward Davies, of Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania, a Representative in Congress from 1*:'.7 to 1841. 

In politics Mi - . Strong was in early life a Democrat, and as such 
he wa> elected a Representative from Pennsylvania to the Thirtieth 
ami to the Thirty-first Congresses, lie wa- Chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Elections, and in that capacity made many able and judi- 
cious report- in contested cases. He declined to be a candidate for 
a third term. Alter leaving Congress he again devoted himself 
wholly to his profession, being the acknowledged head of the bar 
in his county and district. 

In 1857 he was elected on the Democratic ticket a Judge of the 
Supreme Court of the State of Pennsylvania, for a term of fifteen 
years. lie gave all the influence of his high position and character 
to the support of the Government of the United States against the 
Rebellion. He resigned in October, 1868, t" resume the practice 
of his profession in Philadelphia. His professional services were 
eagerly sought after. He wa- employed and consulted in a great 
number of the most important cases, both in the Federal and State 
Courts. His practice promised unusual pecuniary reward, when, 
unsought and unsolicited by him or his friends, President Grant, in 
February, 1870, tendered him the appointment of Associate-Justice 
102 



WILLIAM STRONG. 3 

ot' the Supreme Court of the United States. In that high tribunal 
lie at once gained a conspicuous position, and that not only on 
general questions of law, but on the special cases growing out of 
the recent rebellion. Although his judgments are marked h\ greal 
fairness and moderation on these exciting questions, they have, al 
the same time, been uniform, consistent, and inflexible in maintain- 
ing the supremacy of the Federal authority. While he has con- 
strued most favorably and liberally every act of beneficence or 
pardon, by the General Government, toward the rebels, he has also 
most firmly insisted upon obedience and submission, on their part, 
to the amended Constitution and the laws of the United States. 

Many of these questions, with which our Supreme Judiciary has 
been occupied the last t'fw years, were new and difficult. The 
principles of international law, the laws of war, and the policy of 
modern civilized nations, as they affect the rights of citizens, neu- 
trals, and belligerents, and as they are modified by the genius and 
structure of our own Government, the advancing civilization of the 
age, and the special legislation of Congress, were to be expounded, 
reconciled, and applied by this Court in numerous and diverse 
cases. While many of these questions have given rise to acrimo- 
nious political controversy, and sometimes popular clamor and 
turbulence, it speaks well for the wisdom, fidelity, and conserva- 
tism of the Court, that its deliverances upon them have not only 
been generally submitted to and acquiesced in, but have been 
almost universally approved. 

One of Judge Strong's first opinions was the case of Bigelow vs. 

Forrest, (9 Wallace, 339.) French Forrest was an officer in the 

Confederate Navy, His real estate in Virginia had been seized, 

libeled, condemned, and sold, under the Confiscation Act of 1862. 

He died in 1866. His heir at law brought suit to recover it back 

from the purchaser. This heir at law had also been an officer in 

the Confederate service. In the opinion, it is clearly shown and 

maintained, that under the Constitution of the United States — the 

Act and Resolution of 1862 — forfeiture for treason was limited to 

the life of the offender, and could extend no further. 
L03 



4- WILLIAM STROXU. 

In Miller vs. the United States, ill Wallace, 268,) where the 
power of the Government to confiscate the property at all, under the 
Constitution, was ably and vigorously attacked. Judge Strong, in 
a full and exhaustive opinion, maintains the power of Congre-s to 
legislate to that end, ami the < 1 oiirts to enforce the legislation, by 
virtue of the general war powers conferred in the Constitution, and 
as distinguished from the municipal and sovereign power of the 
Government to punish treason and rebellion. It is doubtless the 
fullest, clearest, and ablest judicial exposition yet made on this 
much controverted question. 

In the United States vs. Wiley, (1 1 Wallace, 508,) he discusses the 
questions of how far, for what time, and between what persons, the 
war of the rebellion suspended the running of the statute of lim- 
itations. 

In Montgomery vs. the United States. (15 Wallace. 395,) it was 
held that a citizen of New Orleans, who, after its capture by Far- 
ragut and Bntler, purchased cotton, etc., from inhabitants of a pari 
of the same State outside the Onion lines, was guilty of a breach 
of the non-intercourse laws, and could acquire no title to the prop- 
erty purchased. In the Planters' Bank vs. the Union Bank, 
(16 Wallace, 185,) Judge Strong, in a most thorough ami masterly 
manner, reviews the right of the Government, under the laws of war 
and the legislation of Congress, to >eize and confiscate property of 
rebels in belligerent territory. He shows, that after General But 
ler's proclamation of May 1. 1862, then' could he no seizure and 
confiscation of private property in the city of New Orleans; that 
under no circumstances, or at any time, could the military com- 
mander- make any order for confiscation; that power rested in 
Congress alone. 

In the Fannie, (11 Wallace, 238,) Thorp vs. Hammond, (12 Wal- 
lace. 408,) the Scotia, (14 Wallace, 170,) the Commerce. (16 Wal- 
lace, 33,) the Sapphire, (IS Wallace, 51,) the questions of the 
relative rights and liabilities of steam and sailing vessels are dis- 
cussed and expounded, and the rules and principles by which 

these are to be determined, in cases of collision, so set forth and 
104 



WILLIAM STRONG. 5 

developed that do seafaring man need err therein or mistake his 
lights and duties. 

But the ablest and most important opinion delivered by Mr. 
.Justice Strong, since his accession to the Supreme Bench, is that 
in the Legal Tender case, (12 Wallace, 457.) Hepburn vs. (iris- 
wold (8 Wallace, 006) had previously decided the Legal Tender 
act unconstitutional, so far as it applied to debts contracted prior 
to its passage. The majority of the Court, as then constituted, 
having determined to overrule the case of Hepburn vs. Griswold, 
so recently decided, committed to Judge Strung the task of sus- 
taining their ruling by reason and authority. How well he per- 
formed that duty is known to the country. The clear statement 
of the questions, the complete analysis of the arguments on the 
one side and the other, the collocations of the reasons and author- 
ities by which they were sustained or refuted, are grouped so lu- 
cidly and so naturally, as to make them palpable to the commonest 
comprehension. The view taken of the power of Congress under 
the Constitution, in dealing witli this great question, discards the 
narrow, technical, legal ideas so strenuously urged upon the Court, 
and adopts the same broad, beneficent, and statesman-like construc- 
tion of Hamilton, Marshall, and Story. In its style and diction, 
the opinion is marked by that simplicity, purity, and elegance, that 
is at once so attractive and appropriate in a legal opinion. 

On questions of insurance in many of its phases, on corporations 
on patents, on the rights of the States to tax corporation- and indi- 
viduals, on the power ami functions of the Federal and State Courts, 
and the multifarious and important questions that came before this 
great tribunal, the last tune volumes of their Reports bear marks of 
his great industry and learning. 

In every respect Judge Strong's profession was well chosen. 11 is 
early inclinations and predilections were for the law, and all his 
preparatory studies were pursued in reference to it. The charac- 
teristics and qualities of his mind were admirably adapted to master 
and unfold its principles. His many published opinions as Judge, 

both in the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania and the Supreme Court 
1 1 1:, ' 



Q W I L LI A M STRONG. 

of the United States, bear the marks of deep research and profound 
legal erudition; while in language and construction they are models 
of purity and simplicity, and rank their author as one of the ablest 
jurists of the age. He lias greatly endeared himself to his asso- 
ciates and the profession by his simple yet dignified maimers, and 
by uniform courtesy and kindness to all. 

As previously intimated. Judge Strong was a moderate and con- 
servative Democrat until the contest over the Kansas-Nebraska 
Act. He could not conscientiously support his party in that and 
cognate measures, but sympathized with the views and principles 
of the rising Republican party. He was favorable to the election 
of Lincoln in ISO). His legal and literary acquirements have been 
acknowledged by the degree of LL.D., conferred by Yale, Prince- 
ton, and Lafayette Colleges. 

From early life Judge Strong has been in his religious belief a 
Calvinistic Presbyterian. He is now* a ruling elder in the New 
York Avenue Presbyterian Church in Washington. He lias Ion-; 
boon :i Commissioner in the American Board of Foreign Missions. 
He is a Vice-President of the American Bible Society and of the 
American Sunday School Union, Presidentof the American Tract 
Society, and a member of the Evangelical Alliance. 

Judge Strong's long career of honor and usefulness, both in pub- 
lic and private life, affords an excellent model and example to 
the youth of our land. His early struggles, his patient, persistent 
industry, and his complete success, are so many encouragements 
to them. His life teaches, too, the still higher and better lesson, 
that success may be attained, and the highest public stations 
reached and filled, without a single blot or stain resting upon the 
private and personal character. \t shows also that eminence in 
public life is entirely consistent witli enlarged private charity, sys- 
tematic benevolence, a kind disposition, engaging manners, gener- 
ons confidence in man, and unfaltering faith in the Divine wisdom 
and goodness. 



106 




I -- -, : ' -■■■ 







JOSEPH P. BRADLEY, 

ASSOCIATE JUSTICE. 




OSEPH P. BRADLEY was born in Berne, Albany 
Ij; County, New York, in 1813. His paternal ancestors 
l^i" were among the first settlers of New Haven. His imme- 
diate family emigrated to Albany County in 1791, and 
settled in the Helderberg region. His mother was a Gardiner, be- 
longing to a family from Newport, Rhode Island. He was the eldest 
of eleven children, and was brought up on his father's farm at 
Berne. He early exhibited a strong proclivity for reading and 
studv, and managed, by the aid of his father's library and that of 
the town, which was kept in the neighborhood, to make consider- 
able progress in historical and miscellaneous reading, such as 
travels, essays, theological discussions, etc. His school education 
was confined to the merest elementary studies ; but being fond of 
mathematical investigation, a taste derived from the maternal side, 
he mastered algebra, trigonometry, and surveying, and reduced 
the last-named study to practice. He commenced teaching school 
in ln's sixteenth year, and continued it at intervals until he left his 
native State. By these various means he profited as much, per- 
haps, as he could have done in a seminary of learning. Health, a 
habit of observation, and a deep thirst for knowledge in a young 
man, are almost certain elements of success. 

At eighteen, being tired of country life and the little prospect it 
afforded for the future, young Bradley accepted the invitation of 
the parish clergyman. Rev. A. H. Myers, to live in his family and 
pursue the necessary course of study for entering college. He ac- 
cordingly entered Rntejers College, New Jersey, in 1S33, and 
107 



2 JOSEPH P. BRADLEY. 

graduated in 1836, in the same class with Hon. Frederick T. Fre- 
linghuysen, Cortlandt Parker, Esq., and others, who subsequently 
became eminent in their several professions. 

After receiving his academical degree, Mr. Bradley at first as- 
sumed the principalship of an academy in Millstone, New Jersey, 
but soon took to the study of law in the office of A. Gifford, Esq., 
in Newark. Here he was admitted to the bar in 1839, and for 
thirty rears devoted himself assiduously to the laborious practice 
of his profession. He was engaged during that period in many of 
the most important causes which were contested in the New Jersey 
courts, and the United States courts of that district. These em- 
braced land, commercial, patent, and corporation cases, as well as 
criminal trials. In 1S60, with other counsel, he argued the cele- 
brated New Jersey Bridge cases before the Supreme Court at Wash- 
ington ; these and the Albany Bridge case being argued together. 
In politics he was originally a Whig, and on the dissolution of 
that partj became a Republican. Although often urged to accept 
nominations for office, he always eschewed political life until 
1862, when ho ran for Congress in the Fifth District of New Jer- 
M'\ on the Republican ticket, and was defeated, the districl being 
strongly Democratic. In L868 ho headed the Grant and Colfax 
electoral ticket of New Jersey. He was a warm supporter of the 
late war, regarding tin' integrity of the nation as essential to tin- 
triumph of free institutions. On several occasions lie attended the 
new regiments to the field, and addressed them on the issues ol the 
war. 

lie was for many years a director and principal counselor of the 
New Jersey railroad companies. In this position his influence was 
exerted to induce the companies to abandon their i lopoly privi- 
leges and transit duty on passengers ami freight, so odious in other 
parts of the country, both of which objects at last were consum- 
mated. He also strenuously advised and seconded the efforts that 
were made by the railroad lines of New Jersey during the war, and 
especially in the spring and summer of 1861, in forwarding troops 

and military supplies. 

,F 108 



JOSEPH P. BRADLEY. 3 

From is,">l to 1863, notwithstanding the pressure of professional 
duties, lie acted as mathematician or actuary of the Mutual Benefit 
Life Insurance Company of Newark, and from 1S65 to 1869 was 
President of the New Jersey Mutual Life Insurance Company. 
While residing in Newark, Mr. Bradley was a director in various 
financial institutions. His counsel in periods of difficulty wasalways 
highly regarded. He brought to the various questions raised that 
clear analytical judgment for which he is distinguished. 

In 1849 he delivered an address on Progress before the literary 
societies of Rutgers College, and other addresses on similar occa- 
sions since, several of which have been published. He has also 
delivered lectures before the classes of that institution on Political 
Economy and Constitutional Law. In 1851 he delivered the an- 
nual address before the New Jersey Historical Society, on the 
" Perils through which the Federal Constitution has passed, and 
which still threaten it ;" and in 1865 an address on the Life and 
Character of Honorable William L. Dayton. In June, 1S70, he 
was called upon to deliver the centennial address at Rutgers College, 
which, together with the proceedings on that occasion, have been 
published. He received the degree of LL.D. from Lafayette Col- 
lege, in Ea.-ton, Pennsylvania, in 1859. 

Mr. Bradley was always fond of scientific studies, and kept up 
an acquaintance with the latest discoveries and improvements. 
His association with men distinguished in this pursuit brought him 
continual pleasure, and correspondence with them called out the 
best qualities of his mind. The same habits of investigation were 
brought to bear on his own profession. He was never content with 
the mere practical part, but was fond of law as a science, and made 
considerable acquaintance with the civil law, which he has un- 
doubtedly found of service in his judicial duties, especially in the 
southern circuit. 

In October, 1844, he married the youngest daughter of the late 

distinguished Chief-Justice Hornblower, of New Jersey. Being 

much worn in health by many years of toil, he went to Europe in 

1865, and returned after an absence of five months, much benefited 
109 



4 JOSEPH P. BRADLEY . 

Travel brought to him not only recreation and health, but the en- 
joyment of a cultured mind. 

In February. 1870, after the resignation of Mr. Justice Crier, and 
the sudden deatli of Mr. Stanton, who was appointed to succeed 
him there beiny then two vacancies on the bench of the Supreme 
Court, President Grant nominated Mr. Strong and Mr. Bradley to 
till them. The latter was continued by the Senate on the 21st of 
March, and was allotted to the fifth circuit, which embraces the 
southern tier of States from Georgia to Texas. At that time this 
was the most important section of the country in reference to the 
exercise of Federal jurisdiction. It is true, that since the creation 
of circuit judges there has not been the same necessity for the 
presence of the justices of the Supreme Court in the circuits a- be- 
fore; and the increase of the business in the Supreme Court is such 
as often to prevent them from presiding at the regular terms of these 
courts. Judge Bradley visits his circuit regularly, after the close of 
each term of the Supreme Court, and has had occasion to make 
some important decisions. One of these— his decision in what is 
known as the Slaughter House cases, in June, 1870 — excited much 
interest in the public mind. This was the first decision in those 
cases, and involved the construction of the Fourteenth Amendment 
to the Constitution. Judge Bradley, in an opinion afterward pub 
lished in the first volume of Abbott's United States Reports, held 
that this amendment placed ever} citizen of the Tinted States under 
the protection of the General Government, wherever any of his 
fundamental rights as a citizen were invaded by the State Legis 
lature. The Legislature of Louisiana had created a corporation 
with the exclusive right to keep slaughterhouses in New Orleans 
and vicinity for a distance of twenty or thirty miles. Judge Brad- 
ley held that this monopoly was an unwarrantable invasion of the 
rights of those citizens who desired to engage in the same business, 
and therefore void ; and that, under the Fourteenth Amendment, 
the courts of the United State? could declare it void. The Su- 
preme Court of Louisiana, in a similar case, held that the Legisla- 
ture did not exceed it> authority; and its decision being brousrlit 
L10 



JOSEPH P. BRADLEY. 5 

to the Supreme Court of the United States, was affirmed 1 >v a vote 
of five judges to four ; thus, in effect, overruling the opinion of 
Judge Bradley. But the case lias given rise to a considerable di- 
versity of opinion. 

In the legal tender cases, Justices Strong and Bradley both gave 
opinions in favor of the constitutionality of the act of Congress ; 
and the position taken by them has been the subject of much ani- 
madversion on the part of those who advocated the contrary view, 
if being even charged that they were appointed for the purpose of 
obtaining a decision sustaining the act. This charge has been shown 
to be unfounded and unjust. Their appointment was urged, and 
under consideration, long before the first decision of the court was 
known, and without any reference thereto. A re-argument of tin- 
question was asked for, on the ground that there was not a full 
bench when the former decision was pronounced ; and it was in- 
sisted that the importance of the question rendered such a course, 
under the circumstances, justifiable and proper. At all events, 
there seems to be no ground for doubt that the two new judges, 
as well as those with whom they concurred in the action taken by 
the court, acted conscientiously. 

Justice Bradley has recently been called upon to give an opinion 
on another question of very grave importance. In April, 1ST::, a 
lawless assemblage of whites attacked and killed a large number of 
colored persons at Colfax, in Grant Parish, Louisiana. They were 
indicted for this outrage in the Circuit Court of the United State-. 
under the Enforcement act of May 31, 1870. Several of them being 
convicted, motion was made to arrest judgment on the ground that 
the United States Courts had no jurisdiction. It was contended 
that it was merely riot or murder, which are only offenses against 
the laws of the State. The charge of the indictment was, of a con- 
spiracy to intimidate and injure the colored people, (who were 
alleged to be citizens of the United States,) with intent to prevent 
them in the exercise and enjoyment of the right peaceably to as- 
semble, secured to them by the first amendment to the Constitu- 
tion. Other counts charged similar violations of the right to bear 
111 



fi JOSEPH P. BRADLEY. 

anus, the right to equal benefit of the laws, the right to vote, etc. 
For the Government, it war- contended that this was a crime against 
the United States, and a direct breach of the Constitution. Justice 
Bradley held that the right to assemble, bear arms, etc., w;i> se- 
cured by the Constitution only as against the acts of the Govern- 
ment, and not as against acts of individuals, which were punishable 
by State laws; and that violence inflicted by individuals against 
colored persons, or any other persons, to prevent their enjoyment 
of civil rights, was nothing more than an ordinary criminal act, 
amenable to the State laws, unless committed against those persons 
because of their particular race or color. If done for thai cause, 
the crime is cognizable by the Federal authorities. As this fact 
was not alleged in the indictment he arrested the judgment, and the 
circuit judge being of a contrary opinion, the case is to be decided 
]>\ the Supreme Court. Justice Bradley, in this case, conceded 
that whenever, by any act or law of a State, an individual i- de- 
prived of a constitutional right, he i- entitled to redress, in some 
form, in the courts of the United Status. It cannot he denied that 
the question involved in this opinion lies at the very foundation of 
the constitutional relation- of the Federal and State Governments 
as affected by the recent amendments to the Constitution. 

The opinions of Justice Bradley in all the various cases decided 
since he tools his -eat in the court, exhibit, iii their fullest extent, 
the high qualities which have insured him success. Thoroughly 
master of the greal principles upon which the profession of the law 
is based, with a, clear understanding of the nature, spirit, and sc >p i 
of our national Constitution, he unite- that correct judgment which 
properly applies this knowledge to particular cases. U'\> style of 
writing is commensurate with hi- wide range of culture and thought, 
as is evidenced by his public addresses and written opinions. Ill 
ultimate reputation will undoubtedly place him among the first 
judges of the nation. 

112 



WAED HUNT, 

ASSOCIATE JUSTICE, 




' P^ARD HUNT was born in Utica, Oneida County, New 
York, June 14, 1810. The Hunt family is of English 
origin, but for a century and a half the records show a 
New York branch of the original stuck. The lather of 
the subject of this sketch, Montgomery Hunt, was a gentleman of 
education, and for many years cashier of the old Bank of Utica, 
which was indebted to his financial ability for the marked reputa- 
tion it acquired as a leading country bank with a high standing in 
New York city. When a boy of about fourteen years Ward Hunt 
lost the care and affection of a most excellent mother, who is re- 
membered as a woman of genial manners, a generous heart, and a 
fine intellect. 

In his seventeenth year he entered Union College, where he grad- 
nated with credit. He then attended the law school of Judge 
James Gould, at Litchfield, Connecticut. Having completed the 
course, he returned to Utica and entered the office of Hiram Denio, 
since eminent as a Judge of the New York Court of Appeals. He 
was admitted to the bar in 1831, having just reached the lawful ao-e. 

In those days the professional business afforded by banks was im- 
portant to a young lawyer, and the connection of his father and 
friends with the Bank of Utica at once secured to Mr. Hunt an 
auspicious beginning, and his partnership with Judge Denio shortly 
alter added materially to his professional prospects. He soon com- 
manded a lucrative practice, which, with his patrimony, placed him 
in an independent position. The bar of Oneida County, distin- 
guished for men of legal eminence, was of a character to demand 
113 



2 WARD HUNT. 

ability of all who sought distinction. Mr. Hunt showed himself 
fully able to compete with his ablest antagonists. His practice was 
of the miscellaneous character common to country districts — now 
law, then equity; now that of an attorney, then of a solicitor, and 
commonly as a counselor in all cases. He was connected with 
some of the most important trials, and won distinction at the bar 
foi- clearness of mind and fairness in his conduct of caies. He was 
always a deliberate and orderly speaker, and, without any effort at 
rhetorical display, he possessed an aptness in illustrative anecdote 
and allusion that pleasantly enlivened his formal speech and his 
ordinary conversation. 

Mr. Hunt's earliest political associations were with the old Dem- 
ocratic party, <<t' which General Jackson was then the presidential 
candidate, and for whom his first electoral ballot was cast. A few 
years after, in 1838, Mr. Hunt was elected by that party to the As- 
sembly of Xew York, and served as a member of that body in 
1839. On the formation of the Republican party, in 1856, when 
( reneral Fremont became its candidate for the presidency, Mr. Hunt 
severed his connection with the Democratic party, anil acted zeal- 
ously with the new organization. 

In 1S65 Mr. Hunt was nominated by the Republican party as its 
candidate at large for Judge <>f the Cuurt <A' Appeals, and the re- 
.-ulf was his election by a majority exceeding thirty-two thousand 
votes. This placed him in the judicial seat long ably occupied by 
hi.- partner, Judge Denio, whom he succeeded in January, L866. 
In 18G8 the resignation of John M. Parker as Judge of the Court 
of Appeals, and the death of the Chief Judge, William B. Wright, 
concurred to give Judge Hunt the position of Chief Judge of that 
Court. Of his judicial ability his opinions as published in the 
"New York Reports" testify to the sense of the profession, which 
can best judge of them. His demeanor in his high office was 
urbane and courteous. Possessed of even and well-controlled tem- 
per, he well sustained the dignity of his position. 

In December, 1872, Hon. Samuel Nelson resigned the office of 
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, which 
114 



WAK1) HUNT. ;; 

lie had held for many .years, and Judge Hunt was at once nomina- 
ted by the President as his successor, and was confirmed by the 
"Senate. On the 7th of January following lie took his seat upon 
the bench of the Supreme Court, and has taken a part in all the 
decisions made by that body since that time. 

While holding the United States Circuit Court, at Canandaigua, in 
1873, Judge Hunt tried the celebrated case of Susan B. Anthony, in- 
dicted for illegal voting. In an able and elaborate opinion he de- 
cided, as a matter of law, that Miss Anthony was not a legal voter. 
She knowingly and voluntarily gave a vote which was illegal, and 
thus was subject to the penalty of the law. The Judge directed tin 1 
jury to find a verdict of guilty. It was insisted by the counsel for 
the defense, in arguing the motion tor a new trial, that an error was 
committed in directing the jury t<> render a verdict of guilty. It 
was argued that this direction made the verdict that of the court 
and not of the jury, and that the provisions of the Constitution 
securing a trial by jury in criminal cases had been violated. The 
motion for a new trial was denied in an elaborate decision, in which 
numerous authorities were cited. Among other things Judge Hunt 



" The right of trial by jury, in civil as well as in criminal case-. 

is a constitutional right. The Hist article of the Constitution of the 

State of New York provides that "the trial by jury, in all cases in 

which it has been heretofore used, shall remain inviolate forever.' 

Article 7 of the Constitution of the United States contains a similar 

provision. Yet in cases when the facts are all conceded, or when 

they are proved and uncontradicted by evidence, it has always been 

the practice of the courts to take the case from the jury and decide 

it as a question of law. No counsel has ever disputed the right of 

the court so to do. No respectable counsel will venture to doubt 

the correctness- of such practice, and this in cases of the character 

which are usually submitted to a jury. The right of a trial by jury 

in a criminal case is not more distinctly secured than it is in a civil 

case. In each class of cases this right exists only in respect of a 

disputed fact. To questions of fact the jury respond. Upon ques- 
115 



4 WARD HUNT. 

tionsof law the decision of the court is conclusive, and the jury are 
bound to receive the law as declared by the court. Such is the 
established practice in criminal as well as in civil cases, and this 
practice is recognized by the highest authorities." 

Another important case which attracted general attention was 
the Credit Mobilier suit, based upon the act of Congress of March, 
1873. It came before Judge Hunt, holding the Circuit Court at 
Hartford, Connecticut, in September, 1873. The case was aigued 
on demurrer to the complaint by the most eminent counsel on both 
sides. Judge Hunt delivered a very able and elaborate opinion, in 
which he sustained the demurrer and showed that the United States 
could not properly be a plaintiff in the case, but that "redress must 
be sought through the corporation, unless they refuse to bring suit, 
in which case the action must be by a shareholder of the corpora- 
tion." 

Judge Hunt is a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, in 
which he was educated, and has held therein many honorable offi- 
cial trusts. In all his relations, both public and private, he is every- 
where esteemed for the correctness and purity of bis life. lie has 
been twice married, first to the eldest daughter of the late Chief- 
Justice Savage, of the State of New York, and again, in 1853, to his 
present wife, daughter of the late James Taylor, Esq., of Albany. 
A son bearing the same name, a practicing lawyer of the city of 
Utica, and a married daughter, wife of Arthur B. Johnson, Esq., 

of the same place, constitute the remaining family of Judge Hunt. 
116 



K 







yw^t^^^/7, 



SIMON CAMERON. 



-jSfLMON CAMERON was born in Lancaster County, Pennsvl- 
~^j) vania, March 8th, 1799, and was left an orphan at nine 
'$ti 3' ea1 " 3 °f age. He educated himself while pursuing his em- 
ployment as a printer in Harrisbnrg and in Washington City. lie 
edited and published a paper, called the " Pennsylvania Intelligencer," 
at Doylestown, and subsequently, before he reached the age of twenty- 
two, he was editor of a newspaper published at Harrisburg. In 1832 
he established the Middletown Bank. He devoted much attention 
to the railroad interests of Pennsylvania, and became president of 
two ra'ilroad companies. 

Before reaching the age of thirty he was appointed by Governor 
Shultze, Adjutant-General of Pennsylvania. In 1S45 he was elect- 
ed United States Senator for four years. 

Retiring from office in lb-49, he resumed active business, and de- 
voted himself to internal improvements and financial affairs. In 
1857 he was again elected to the United States Senate for six years, 
but resigned in 1SG1 to become Secretary of "War under President 
Lincoln. In this position he favored the most vigorous measures for 
prosecuting the war, and insisted on arming the negroes. These 
views being at variance with those of the Administration, he retired 
from the Cabinet, and accepted the appointment of Minister Pleni- 
potentiary to Russia. On his arrival at St. Petersburg, he found the 
Czar engaged in the noble work of emancipating the serfs, and his 
first act was to congratulate him for doing that justice which our 
country could not then be induced to do, predicting at the same time 
that events would force this nation to follow his great example. Du- 
ring his stay at St. Petersburg, the unbroken and continuous news 
of Federal disasters strengthened his fear that the policy of the Gov- 
119 



2 SIMON CAMERON. 

eminent foreboded ruin, and deeming it yet possible to impress his 
views on the Administration, and believing that the salvation of the 
country depended on a change of policy, he resigned It is office and 
hastened home to take an active part in the mighty struggle. The 
Government would not yet yield to the growing pressure for vigorous 
measures, and he threw himself into the work of recruiting the Fede- 
ral army, and supporting the Union cause in Pennsylvania and the 
loyal States. At last the negroes were accepted for soldiers, and, 
rinding that the work of their enlistment was unpopular, he offered 
his services to Mr. Lincoln to recruit a brigade of negro soldiers 
for the war and lead them. His offer being declined, he continued 
to devote himself to the Union cause, to the utmost of his ability, 
until the end of the war. 

In 1867 he was elected for the third time to the Senate of the 
United States, for the term ending in 1873, and taking his seat in 
that bod\ he was placed on the Committees on Foreign Relations, 
Military Affairs, and Ordnance, and was made Chairman of the 
Committee on Agriculture, lie was steadfast in his opposition to 
the policy of President Johnson, and voted for conviction in the 
great Impeachment Trial. In the reorganization of the Senate in 
March, 1871, he was appointed to succeed Mr. Sumner as Chair- 
man of the Committee on Foreign Relations. Jn March, 1873, Mr. 
Cameron entered upon his fourth term in the Senate. 

In his speeches before the Senate he expresses his ideas with 
clearness and distinctness. The simplicity and frankness of his dis- 
course are only equaled by the glow of bis patriotism. No man in 
the Senate more finely illustrates the advice once given by the Duke 
of Wellington to a young member of Parliament : " Tell just what 
you have to say, and don't quote Latin." He was one of the found- 
ers of the Republican party, and in 1860 was prominently before 
its National Convention as a candidate for nomination to the Pres- 
idency. He is the oldest member of the Senate. Not a single one 
of his contemporaries when he entered that body in 1841 is now in 
public life. 

120 




y €. V. 









HANNIBAL HAMLIN. 



■ '^'ANNIBAL HAMLIN was born in Paris, Maine, August 
27, 1809. He was the youngest of seven children, and 
his father designed to give him a liberal education ; but 
when nearly fitted for college, the health of an older 
brother failing, Hannibal was recalled from school to aid in the 
labors of the farm. He continued upon the farm till eighteen 
years old, when, by the approval and direction of his father, he 
commenced the study of law with au elder brother residing in the 
eastern part of the State. His father, however, dying soon after 
Mr. Hamlin's departure from home, he returned, and during the 
succeeding two years continued to labor upon the farm. 

About the time of his coming of age Mr. Hamlin became asso- 
ciated with Mr. Horatio King in the proprietorship of the Jeffer- 
sonian, a paper printed in his native town. This enterprise, 
however, he soon relinquished, and under the advice of his mother 
resumed the study of law. At the end of three years' study he was 
admitted to the bar, and entered at once on the practice of his pro- 
fession, gaining a case on the very day of his admission. In April 
of the same year he removed to Hampden, near Bangor, where he 
has since resided. Here he at once entered upon a large practice, 
and in addition to his forensic efforts made frequent addresses at 
lyceums, as well as at political and other assemblies. 

In the five years from 183G to 1840 inclusive Mr. Hamlin was 
annually elected a Representative in the State Legislature, and 
became at once a prominent member of the House; was prominent 
in all the principal debates, was one of the recognized leaders of 
his party, and for three out of these five years he was Speaker of 
the House. In 1810 he was the Democratic candidate for Repre- 
sentative in Congress, and was defeated by less than two hundred 
votes. Three years afterward, however, he was pitted against the 
121 



2 HANNIBAL HAMLIN. 

Bame opponent and for tlie same office, and was elected by a major- 
ity of a thousand. Assuming li is seat in the Twenty-eighth Con- 
gress, he at once took the position of an active and able-member 
of the House. The measure for annexing Texas by joint resolution 
failed to meet his approval, and he made an eloquent speech against 
it, wherein he expressed his regret that this "great and important 
question had heen dragged down, down, down from its own proper 
sphere to a wretched, contemptible one for extending and perpetu- 
ating slavery." 

Mr. Hamlin was elected to the succeeding Congress, in which he 
served in the Committee on Naval Affairs, and was Chairman of 
the Committee on Elections. In this Congress, both by speech 
and vote, lie assumed a decided stand against the encroachments 
of slavery, announcing most explicitly his opposition to its exten- 
sion, and offered the Wilmot Proviso as an amendment to the 
famous "Three Million Bill." 

In 1848 Mr. Hamlin was elected to the Senate of the United 
States to fill the vacancy occasioned hy the death of Governor 
Fairfield. Having served the lour years of this unexpired term, he 
was re-elected for the full term. He was elected as a Democrat, 
although bitterly opposed by a portion of the party for his previous 
anti-slavery attitude in Congress. His opposition to slavery and 
its extension continued firm and unyielding, utterly regardless of 
party ties or inducements leading in any other direction. "I owe 
it," said he in a speech on the Clayton Compromise, "I owe it to 
the constituents whom I represent, to our posterity, to all the toil- 
ing millions who are seeking an asylum in our land, to embrace 
this opportunity of opposing with unshaken firmness any attempt 
to introduce or permit this institution to flow into territory now 
free. 1 ' 

In June, 185C, in connection with a brief speech in the Senate 
on the Democratic Platform, as announced at the Cincinnati Con- 
vention, Mr. Hamlin publicly and formally declared off from that 
party, and expressed his determination to battle vigorously tin- the 
defeat of its presidential candidate. In the following January, 
L22 



HANNIBAL HA M L I N. 



3 



having by a large majority been elected Governor of Maine as a 
Republican candidate, he resigned his seat in the Senate. About 
one week after his inauguration, however, he was for the third 
time chosen a Senator of the United States. He resigned the 
office of Governor in a little more than a month after assuming it. 
and resumed his seat in the Senate. 

The nomination of Mr. Hamlin for the Yice-Presidency of the 
United States was as unexpected to himself as it was honorable; 
while the unanimity and cordiality with which it was made, 
and its universal popularity, were conclusive evidences of the 
exalted character and eminent national standing of the Senator. 
Having been triumphantly elected on the ticket with the illustrious 
Lincoln, he presided over the Senate as Vice-President from 1801 
to 1865, acquitting himself in that position with great ability and 
universal approval. When the Republican Convention of 18(34 re- 
nominated Mr. Lincoln there was a desire to have a Southern man 
associated with him on the ticket, and Mr. Hamlin was set aside 
for Andrew Johnson, much to the subsequent regret of the party. 

Mr. Hamlin was appointed Collector of the Port of Boston, but 
resigned in the following year on account of his disapproval of the 
policy of President Johnson. He was subsequently re-elected to the 
Senate, and took his seat for the fourth time as a member of that 
body March 4, 1SG9. Of Mr. Hamlin's general congressional 
career a judicious writer has said : 

It is but stating the truth to say that during his entire congressional service 
Mr. Hamlin has displayed in an eminent degree the qualities of a prompt, intel- 
ligent, and efficient business man. His executive abilities are of a rare and 
high order. He has made it a first object to meet the demands made upon him 
by his own constituents and State. Every letter of this sort is promptly attend- 
ed to and answered. What a draft this has constantly made upon his time and 
efforts every man who knows anything of the requirements made of a Congress- 
man will be able to appreciate. All parties in Maine have demanded these 
services of Mr. Hamlin, and have accorded him the praise, of fidelity and effi- 
ciency in devotion to their interests. The heads of the Treasury and of the 
Customs Departments, including such men as Secretary Guthrie, Secretary 
Hodge, and Governor Anderson, have declared Governor Hamlin to be the best 
business man in the Senate. During his entire service as a Senator he has been 
a member of the very laborious and important Committee on Commerce, and 
123 



i HANNIBAL HAMLIN. 

was its Chairman for seven years. In this hitler capacity he harl supervision of 
all the great questions and measures affecting the commerce of the country, 
both domestic and foreign, acted upon by that Committee— no bill being 
reported which he had not fully understood by personal investigation. 

The luter record of Mr. Hamlin's senatorial course seems to indi- 
cate a greater attention to the current and actual business of the 
Senate than any inclination to long and elaborate speeches. Of 
these latter the history of the Forty-first Congress reveals to us but 
few. "I believe," said lie on one occasion, "I do not occupy the 
three and a half minutes that I am entitled to ou) "fa day's session 
here; and if Senators would vote as cheerfully as I will vote, with- 
out talking, we should have passed the Mississippi bill yesterday." 

With the concluding remarks of Mr. Hamlin's brief speech in 
the Senate on the occasion of the death of his colleague, Mr. Fes- 
senden, we close this sketch : 

Mr. President, there an- evi nta connected with the Senate which the solemni- 
ties of the occasion seem to impress upon me with peculiar force, and lo which 
I may appropriately refer. I run mj eye over the Senate Chamber to-day, and 

ot'all the men which constituted the body upon my entrance into it as a mem- 
ber, but a single one, but a single one now remains with me. That one is my 
honored friend, the Senator from Pennsylvania, who sits nearest, to me, (Mr. 
Cameron ;) and it is no slight compensation for the annoyance incident to public 
life to know that intimate and most friendly relations which were then formed 
in all changes anil antagonisms of public life have never for one moment been 
disturbed. Could we have been transferred from that time to the present, from 
the Senate as it then was to the Senate as it now is, how startling would be the 
change! We would find ourselves in association with those who would be 
strangers to us. It teaches a moral that all may heed. 

During the period of time referred to the Senate has certainly been graced by 
many of the most eminent and distinguished American Senators. Clay, witli 
his clarion voice and fervid eloquence; Calhoun, with his captivating manner 
and subtle metaphysics; Webster, with his words of masterly power; Benton, 
with his comprehensive knowledge of the legislation of the country and an 
indomitable will; Douglas, with an earnestness and courage to meet and, if 
possible, to overcome all obstacles in his way; and Collamer, with his plausibil- 
ity to persuade, and his learning and his logic to convince, and Cass and Clay- 
ton, are certainly some of the Senators whose names stand highest upon the roll 
of senatorial fame. Their names, and others that might be designated, will he 
remembered while the Republic or its history shall exist; and to this list is 
now to be added the name of Fessenden, my late colleague. There it will re- 
main imperishable as one of the great American Senators. 
124 




c^#<~&l-, /LA^yu^ 






CHARLES SUMNER. 




HE ancestors of Charles Sumner were among the early 
emigrants to New England. His father's cousin, Increase 
Sumner, was one of the early governors of the State of 
Massachusetts, and was regarded as a worthy successor of Hancock 
and Adams. The father of Charles Sumner was a successful law 
yer, and for many years held the office of High Sheriff of the County 
of Suffolk. 

Charles Sumner was born in Boston, January 6th, 1811. Having 
received a preparatory training in the Boston Latin School, and the 
Phillips Academy, he became a student in Harvard College, where 
he graduated in 1830. He subsequently entered the Cambridge Law 
School, where he pursued his studies three years under the direction 
of Judge Story, with whom he formed an intimate and lasting friend- 
ship. 

In 1830 he was admitted to the bar, and rose rapidly in his pro- 
fession. He was appointed Reporter of the Circuit Court of the 
United States; and, while holding this office, published three vol- 
umes of decisions, known as "Sumner's Reports." At the same 
time he edited the "American Jurist," a law paper of high reputation. 

During three winters following his admission to the bar, Mr. Sum- 
ner lectured to the students of the Cambridge Law School. Then, 
as in after life, his favorite subjects were those relating to constitu- 
tional law and the law of nations. la 1830 he was offered a profess- 
orship in the Law School, and in Harvard College, both of which he 
declined. 

In 1837 he visited Europe, where he remained till 1810, traveling 
12:> 



2 CHARLES SUMMER. 

in Italy, Germany, and France, and residing a year in England. 
His time was improved in adding to liis previous literary and legal 
attainments an extensive knowledge of the languages and literature 
of modern Europe. 

After three years spent abroad, Mr. Sumner returned to his native 
city, and resumed the practice of law. In addition to his professional 
duties, he was occupied from 184:4 to 1846 in editing and publishing 
an elaborately annotated edition of "Yesey's Reports," in twenty 
volumes. 

Mr. Simmer was recognized as belonging to the "Whig party, yet 
for several year- after his return from Europe he took but little part 
in politics, lie made his first appearance on the political stage on 
the 4th of July, 1845, when he pronounced an oration before the 
municipal authorities of Boston on " The True Grandeur of Nations." 
This titterance was made in view of the aspect of affairs which 
portended war between the United States and Mexico. This oration 
attracted great attention, and was widely circulated both in Europe 
and America. Cobden pronounced it "the most noble contribution 
made by any modern writer to the cause of peace." 

At a popular meeting in Fanned Hall, November 4-, 1S45, Mr. 
Sumner made an eloquent and able argument in opposition to the 
annexation of Texas, on the ground of slavery. In the following 
year he delivered an address before the Whig State Convention of 
Massachusetts on "The Anti-Slavery Duties of the "Whig Party." 
In this address, Mr. Sumner avowed himself the uncompromising 
enemy of da very. He announced his purpose to pursue his opposi- 
tion to that great evil, under the Constitution, which he maintained 
was an instrument designed to secure liberty and equal rights. Pro- 
visions in the Constitution conferring privileges on slaveholders were 
compromises with what the framers of that instrument expected 
would prove but a temporary thing. 

In 1846 Mr. Sumner addressed a public letter to Hon. Robert C. 
Winthrop, who then represented Boston in Congress, rebuking him 
for his vote in favor of war with Mexico. In this letter the Mexican 
126 



CHARLES SUMNER. 3 

war was characterized as an unjust, dishonorable, and cowardly attack 
on a sister republic, having its origin in a purpose to promote the 
extension of slavery. 

The position of Mr. Sumner was too far in advance of the Whig 
party to admit of his remaining in full fellowship. In 1848 he sun- 
dered his old political ties, and aided in the organization of the Free 
Soil party, whose platform was composed of principles which he bad 
distinctively announced in his public addresses. Van Buren and 
Adams, candidates of the new party, were earnestly supported by 
Mr. Sumner in the Presidential contest of 1848. 

The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act tended to obliterate old 
party lines and overshadow former political issues. A vacancy in 
the United States Senate occurring by the accession of Daniel 
Webster to the cabinet of Mr. Fillmore, the duty of electing his suc- 
cessor devolved upon the Legislature of Massachusetts. By a coali- 
tion of Free-Soilers and Democrats in the Legislature, Mr. Sumner 
was nominated for the office, and was elected after an earnest and 
protracted contest. The result was regarded as a signal triumph of 
the anti-slavery party. 

In the Senate of the United States, Mr. Sumner's first important 
speech was against the Fugitive Slave Law. He then announced his 
great political formula, " Freedom is national, and slavery sectional," 
which furnished the clue to his subsequent career. He argued that 
Congress had no power, under the Constitution, to legislate for the 
rendition of fugitive slaves, and that the act was not only in conflict 
with the Constitution, but was cruel and tyrannical. 

The great debate on the Missouri Compromise and the contest in 
Kansas elicited all of Mr. Sumner's powers of eloquence and argu- 
ment. His great speech, published under the title of " The Crime 
against Kansas," occupied two days in its delivery. Southern Sena- 
tors and Representatives were greatly incensed by this speech, and it 
was determined to meet argument by blows. Two days after the 
delivery of the speech, Preston S. Brooks, a Representative from 
South Carolina, assaulted Mr. Sumner while writing at his desk in 
127 



4 CHARLES SUMNER. 

the Senate Chamber. Mr. Sumner, unarmed and powerless behind 
his desk, was beaten on the head until he fell insensible on the floor. 
A Committee of the House of Representatives reported in favor of 
Brooks's expulsion. The resolution then reported received a little 
less than the two-thirds vote necessary to its adoption. Mr. Brooks, 
however, resigned his seat, pleaded guilty before the court at Wash- 
ington upon an indictment for assault, and was sentenced to a tine of 
three hundred dollars. Having returned to his constituents to re- 
ceive their verdict on his conduct, lie was re-elected to Congress by 
a unanimous vote. A few days after resuming Ins seat in Congress, 
he died suddenly of acute inflammation of the throat. 

On the other hand, Mr. Sumner did not fail to receive the endorse- 
ment of his constituents. In the following January, while still dis- 
abled with his wounds, he was re-elected by an almost unanimous 
vote, in a Legislature consisting of several hundred members. In 
the spring of L857 he went to Europe, by the adviceofhis physicians, 
to seek a restoration of his health, and returned in the following 
autumn to resume his seat in the Senate. His health being still im- 
paired, he again went abroad in May, 1858, and submitted to a 
course of medical treatment of extraordinary severity. After an 
absence of eighteen months, he returned in the autumn of 1850, with 
health restored, again to enter upon his Senatorial duties. 

It was highly appropriate that the first serious effort of Mr. 
Sumner, after his return to the Senate, should be a delineation of 
" The Barbarism of Slavery." In an elaborate and eloquent speech, 
which was published under that title, he denounced slavery in its in- 
fluence on character, society, and civilization. 

In the Presidential contest of 18G0, which resulted in the election 
of Abraham Lincoln, Mr. Sumner took an active part, and w T as grati- 
fied in seeing the signal triumph of principles which he had long 
maintained. On the secession of the rebel States, he earnestly op- 
posed all compromise with slavery as a means of restoring the Union. 
He early proposed and advocated emancipation as the speediest mode 
of bringing the war to a close. 

128 



CHARLES SUMNER. 5 

In March, 1S61, lie entered npon the responsible position of 
Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations. In this posi- 
tion he has rendered great service to the country by his vigilant at- 
tention to our interests as affected by our relations with European 
powers. His influence has always been exerted to promote pence 
and mutual understanding. On the 9th of January, 1862, he de- 
livered an elaborate speech, arguing that the seizure of Mason and 
Slidell, on board the steamer Trent, was unjustifiable on the princi 
pies of international law which had always been maintained by the 
United States. 

In March, 18G3, Mr. Sumner entered upon his third Senatorial term. 
He advocated with zeal and eloquence all the great Congressional 
measures which promoted the successful prosecution of the Mar. 
The Constitutional Amendment abolishing slavery, which was the 
great act of the Thirty-Eighth Congress, was a triumph of the prin- 
ciples long advocated by Mr. Sumner, and forms a crowning glory of 
his statesmanship. 

On the first day of the Thirty-Ninth Congress Mr. Sumner intro- 
duced a bill bioking to the reconstruction of the rebel States under a 
Republican form of government, and a measure to confer suffrage 
on the colored people of the District of Columbia. 

He took the high ground that it was the right and duty of Con- 
gress, under the Constitution, to guarantee impartial suffrage in all 
the States. He was bold and eloquent in advocating the securing, 
by Congressional enactment, of equal civil and political rights to all 
men without regard to color. 

He earnestly opposed the reconstruction policy of President John- 
son, and shuddered to see his disposition to leave the freedmen in 
the hands of their late masters. On the 20th of December, 1865, 
Mr. Sumner denounced the President's " attempt to white wash the 
unhappy condition of the rebel States, and throw the mantle of 
official oblivion over sickening and heart-rending outrages where hu- 
man rights are sacrificed, and rebel barbarism receives a new letter 
of license." 

129 



G CHARLES STJMNER. 

From first to last Mr. Sumner was one of the boldest of the op- 
ponents of President Johnson's usurpations. In the great trial of 
Impeachment he voted to convict the President, and sustained his 
verdict in the case by a learned and able opinion concerning t lie 
law and the evidence. 

With the beginning of the Forty-first Congress, March 4, 1869, 
Mr. Sumner commenced his fourth Senatorial term of six years. 
Ileopposed the bill for repealing the Civil Tenure Act. In discus- 
sions relating to strengthening the Public Credit, the Currency 
Bill, the Franking Privilege, and Reconstruction, he participated, 
with characteristic ability and zeal. 

On the 13th of April, 1SG1), during the consideration of the 
Johnson-Clarendon Treaty, in Executive Session of the Senate, Mr. 
Sumner delivered a remarkable speech against the ratification of 
the treaty. So important was the argument regarded that the 
Senate removed the injunction of secresy, and it was published 
under the title of " < >ur Claims on England." The following sen- 
tence from the concluding paragraph contains a reason for much 
of the feeling in this country against England: " At a great epoch 
of history, not less momentous than that of the French Revolution 
or that of the Reformation, when civilization was fighting a last 
battle with slavery, England gave her name, her influence, her 
material resources to the wicked cause, and flung a sword into the 
scale with slavery." 

A treaty tor the annexation of Dominica to the United States 
having been rejected by the Senate, largely through the opposition 
of Mr. Sumner, a joint resolution passed the House and the Senate 
authorizing the President to appoint Commissioners to visit the 
island for the purpose of ascertaining all prominent facts relating 
to the country and its people. Pending this resolution in the Senate 
a spirited debate ensued, in which Mr. Summer sternly opposed the 
pending resolution. He was excessively severe and offensive, mak- 
ing a personal issue with the President — entitling his speech against 
annexation " Nabotlfs Vineyard." 

In the reorganization of committees at the beginning of the 
130 



CHARLES SUMNEE. 7 

Forty-second Congress, Mr. Sumner was removed from the Chair- 
manship of the Committee on Foreign Relations, and proposed as 
Chairman of the Committee on Privileges and Elections. He de- 
clined to serve on that committee, stating that after twenty years 
in this service lie had a right to expect that his associates would 
not impose upon him a new class of duties when he expressly said 
they were not welcome to him. A leading editorial in the New 
York Tribune of March 13, 1871, in commenting on Mr. Sumner's 
unwillingness to serve in the post assigned him, said : " His hou- 
orable eminence has been nowise achieved through the Chairman- 
ship of the Committee on Foreign Relations, but wholly through 
that eager, uncompromising, unsleeping devotion to the equal rights 
of men, which the position just assigned him by the Senate must 
afford him the largest opportunities to subserve. If he had asked 
the Senate to relieve him from further service in the Committee on 
Foreign Relations, and assign him to just such duties as have now 
been imposed on him, the wisdom and titness of his choice would 
have been generally admitted." An effort was made by Mr. "Wil- 
son and some others to have Mr. Snmner reinstated at the head of 
the Foreign Affairs Committee at the opening of the next session, 
in December, 1871, but it was unsuccessful, and Mr. Sumner per- 
formed no committee service during the Forty second Congress. 

On the Oth of March, 1871, Mr. Sumner introduced his Supple- 
mentary Civil Rights Bill, providing that hotels, railroads, schools, 
etc., should exercise no discrimination in the matter of privilege 
and accommodation against colored people. This bill he advo- 
cated with great persistency, designating it as '' the capstone of 
that equality before the law to which all are entitled, without dis- 
tinction of color." 

On the 12th of February, 1S72, Mr. Sumner introduced a reso- 
lution to provide for the appointment of a committee to inquire 
into the sale of ordnance stores to French agents during the war 
between France and Germany. He advocated this proposition in 
several speeches before the Senate, the most remarkable of which 
was delivered February 28, 1872, and published under the title of 
131 



8 CHARLES SUMNER. 

"Reform and Purify in Government — Neutral Duties — Sale of 
Arms to Belligerent France." The resolution was adopted, and 
the committee appointed. Mr. Sumner was summoned before it 
as a witness, but filed a written protest "against the formation and 
constitution of the committee, as contrary to any reasonable re- 
quirements of parliamentary law." On a subsequent day, having 
been subpoenaed, lie gave his testimony under protest. 

On the 31st of May, 1872, just before the assembling of the Re- 
publican National Convention, Mr. Sumner delivered a powerful 
philippic, which was published under the title, "Republicanism 
vs. Grantism — The Presidency a Trust, not a Plaything and Per- 
quisite — Personal Government and Presidential Pretensions — Re- 
form and Purity in Government." Mr. Sumner took sides in the 
Presidential contest whicli followed with the combined Democrats 
and Liberals. He wrote several public letters in support of Greeley 
and Brown, although his absence in Europe during most of the 
campaign prevented him from taking an active part in politics. 

At the opening of the third session of the Forty-second Congress 
Mr. Sumner offered a resolution that the names of battles be re- 
moved from the flags of the army. For this he was severely criti- 
cised, and resolutions of censure were passed by the Legislature of 
Massachusetts. 

Among all his official and public labors Mr. Sumner has been 
constant in his devotion t,, literature. lie published in 1850 two 
volumes of •• ( Nations ;" in 1 "•>.">:'>, a work on " "White Slavery in the 
Barbary States; and in 1856, a volume of li Speeches and Ad- 
dresses." Some of bis recent speeches in the Senate are as exhaust- 
ive in their treatment of their subjects, as elaborate in finish, as 
abundant in facts, and as copious in details, as ordinary volumes. 
Such, for example, is the great speech in the Senate on " The Ces- 
sion of Russian America to the United States,'' in whicli the geog- 
raphy, history, ami resources of our newly acquired territory are 
set forth more accurately and fully than in any accessible treatise 
on the subject. Mr. Sumner's complete works have been pub- 
lished in superb style by a Boston house. 
132 



CHAKLES SUMNER. 9 

Mr. Sumner's career was closed by his death on the 11th of 
March, 1874. During the winter of 1873-74, the first session of 
the Forty-third Congress, he was laborious and faithful, as he had 
always been, in the discharge of Iris public duties. He Mas espe- 
cially zealous to secure the passage of his Civil Rights bill, the 
great work which was to crown his labors, the last act necessary to 
fill the measure of the colored man's rights. It was the first bill 
offered upon the assembling of the Forty-third Congress, and at his 
death stood at the head of the Senate Calendar of bills. It was not 
permitted him to see its formal enactment, but he knew that this 
keystone of the grand arch was already fitted to its place. 

Mr. Sumner was in attendance upon the Senate on the day pre- 
vious to his death, and then had the satisfaction of hearing the 
announcement made by his colleague that the Legislature of Mas- 
sachusetts had repealed and expunged the resolutions condemnatory 
of his proposition to remove the names of battles from the flags of 
the army. 

Mr. Sumner died of angina pectoris, produced by the brutal as- 
sault made on him by Preston S. Brooks, in the old Senate Chamber, 
nearly eighteen years before. During his last hours he repeatedly 
uttered the exclamation, "Oh, so tired! Oh, so weary!" To a 
colleague of the House of Representatives, who stood at his bedside, 
he said, " See to the Civil Rights bill ; don't let it fail ! " 

Mr. Sumner's death, so sudden and unexpected, created a profound 
sensation throughout the United States. The colored people, whom 
he had regarded as peculiarly his own constituency, everywhere 
manifested profound and unaffected sorrow over the sad event. The 
funeral was the occasion of extraordinary manifestations of respect 
and sorrow from Washington, where the obsequies began, to Boston, 
where the sad ceremonies ended by the burial on Mount Auburn. 

Mr. Sumner should undoubtedly be ranked among the greatest 
Senators of the United States. Clay, Calhoun, and Webster, who 
died about the time of his entry into the Senate, are often described 
as men unequalled in our legislative history, but Sumner surpassed 
them in learning, equalled them in eloquence, and was more fortunate 
in his success. They entered public life surrounded by hosts of 
personal and political friends, but failed in accomplishing their dar- 
ling schemes, and died disappointed men. When Sumner entered 
133 



10 CHAELES SUMNER. 

the Senate there were but two men in that body whom he could 
class as his party ; all the rest were his enemies, who, in their arro- 
gance, long declined to allow him to serve on any committee, as being 
"outside of any healthy political organization." He died when 
little past the prime of life, yet he lived to see the party whose for- 
lorn hope he had led, dominate the nation and number a two-thirds 
majority in both Houses of Congress. The young statesman, who 
was denounced as an abolitionist, and derided as a fanatic, lived to 
see the slaves whom he had championed all freed and enfranchised. 

Mr. Sumner's warmest friends do not maintain that he was devoid 
of faults. Having achieved so much against such obstacles, he was 
egotistical. While forgiving to his enemies, he was intolerant of 
opposition from his friends. He has been charged with self-confi- 
dence, hut this in him was not a fault, for with modest diffidence in 
his own powers he could have accomplished nothing where all po- 
litical parties and all public men were arrayed against him. 

Mr. Sumner possessed high physical as well as moral courage. 
He possessed that true politeness, founded on benevolence, which 
prompted him in mixed society to avoid all subjects which might 
prove disagreeable to any present. In conversation he avoided all 
that was low and vulgar; intellect, refinement, and taste marked all 
that he said. I n person he was so well proportioned that his remark- 
able height, six feet four inches, attracted no special attention. He 
was a man of remarkable industry j his great orations were not the 
inspiration of genius, but the products of patient labor. There was 
nothing selfish nor sordid in his labors, and no man ever accused 
him of profiting by his pursuit of politics. He received the only 
reward he sought, — the undying gratitude of an emancipated race 
and the general approval of mankind. He was great in intellect, 
profound in learning, sincere in his convictions, true in his friend- 
ships, amiable in his intercourse, and wholly unassailable by corrup- 
tion. 

134 








£>. 



SZ. 



^rvl 






ZACHAEIAH CHANDLER. 



JQf ACHARIA1I CHANDLER is a native of Bedford, N. II., 
feggSJ and was born Dee. 10, 1813. He received an academical 
education in addition to the usual school training given to 
.New England boys. 

As is common with such boys, he worked upon the farm until six- 
teen or seventeen years old. In the course of his youth he taught 
school two or three winters; and in 1833, when twenty-two years of 
age, he emigrated to Michigan, and engaged in mercantile business 
in Detroit. The country was then new, and Detroit was a town 
of but about 4,000 inhabitants. 

Mr. Chandler is one of those fortunate men of the "West who have 
grown up with the country, lie commenced, at first, a small retail 
dry -goods store, but was soon enabled by a prosperous trade to en- 
large his business to a wholesale trade, and extended, in courseof time, 
his operations to all parts of the surrounding country, so that there 
were few of all the retail dealers in Northern and Western Michigan, 
Northern Ohio and Indiana, and in Western Canada, who wore not 
numbered among his customers. 

Mr. Chandler was a Whig in politics, but seems never to have 
sought for political honor, choosing, rather, to set the example of ac- 
cepting nlKce as an incident of the success of his party, than to strive 
fi ir it as a primary object. His first official position was that of Mayor 
of Detroit, to which office he was elected in 1851. Here he served 
acceptably, and the following year was nominated for Governor of 
the State. His strong anti-slavery ci invictions, however, were brought 
into the canvass, ami he preferred to be what he deemed right, than 
135 



2 ZACIIAUIAII CHANDLER. 

to lie Governor. In denouncing the institution of slavery as the great 
curse of the nation, he lost the election. The progress of anti-slavery 
sentiment in Michigan was such that in 1856 he was elected to the 
Senate of the United States for six years, and took his seat on the 4th 
of March of that year. 

During the important period of his first term in the United States 
Senate, Mr. Chandler was identified with all the leading measures of 
( ongress for a general system of internal improvements — forprevent- 
ing a further increase of slave territory, and for the overthrow of the 
powerful domination of the slave power, which had usurped the con- 
trol of the nation, lie was one of the few Northern men in the Sen- 
ate at that time who foresaw the tendency of events, and that the 
country was drifting onward to a terrible war. 

Mr. ( 'handler opposed all the so called compromise measures of the 
South, as the virtual surrender of the liberties of the people. In all 
the Senatorial contests of that period, he stands on record as the un- 
flinching defender of liberty, and the fearless advocate of the doc- 
trines of the I leclaration of Independence. These great doctrines ho 
maintained by speech and vote in the Senate and before the people ; 
and if an appeal to arms should be accessary, he welcomed the ar- 
bitration of war. 

"The country," writes one of Mr. Chandler's admirers, " docs not 
now appreciate how much it owes to his Roman firmness. The people 
have become too ranch accustomed to regard him as one of the great 
fortresses of their liberties, which no artillery could breach, and 
whose parapet no storming column could ever reach, that they have 
never given themselves a thought as to the disastrous consequences 
which might have followed on many occasions had he spoken or voted 
otherwise than he did. When did he ever pander to position or com- 
plain of being overslaughed by his party? Tet no man ever did 
braver work for a party, and got less consideration than he." 

As the war came on, and seemed for a time to be prosequted with 
indifferent success, particularly in the East, Mr. Chandler, with a mul- 
titude of other good men, chafed under what he considered the dila- 
136 



ZACIIAlilAH CHANDLER. 3 

tory and unskillful management of army operations. He was prompt 
to discern and denounce the want of generalship in McClellan. His 
speech on this subject, made in the Senate, July 7, 1SC2 — soon after 
the defeat of the army of the Potomac — was bold and incisive. 
" The country," he exclaimed, " is in peril ; and from whom — by wh< m\>. 
And who is responsible ? As I have said, there are two men to-day 
who are responsible for the present position of the army of the Poto- 
mac. The one is the President of the United States, Abraham Lin- 
coln, whom I believe to be a patriot — whom I believe to be honest, 
and honestly earnest to crush out and put down this rebellion ; the 
other is George U. McClellan, General of the Army of the Potomac, 
of whom I wiU not express a belief. * * Either denounce Abra- 
ham Lincoln, President of the United States, whom I believe to be a 
pure and honest man, or George B. McClellan, who has defeated your 
army, lie took it to Fortress Monroe, used it guarding rebel prop- 
erty, sacrificed the half of it in the swamps and marshes before 
Yorktown and the Chickahominy, and finally brought up the right 
wing with only thirty thousand men, and held it there till it whipped 
the overwhelming forces of the enemy, repulsed them three times, 
and then it was ordered to retreat, and after that, the enemy fought 
like demons, as you and I knew they would, a retreating, defeated 
army. Tell rne where were the left and center of our army? Tell 
me, where were the forces in front of our left and center ? Sir, twenty 
thousand men from the left and the center to reinforce Porter on the 
morning after his savage and awful fight, would have sent the enemy 
in disgrace and disaster into Richmond." 

Mr. Chandler, as we have seen, had no patience with any half- 
heartedness, or dilatory efforts in the prosecution of the war against 
the rebellion. He was for striking decided and heavy blows in order 
to crush the power of the enemy, and it was under the influence of 
such sentiments that he, in his place in the Senate, proposed a spe- 
cial " Committee on the Conduct of the War." This Committee was 
at once ordered. Mr. Chandler declined the chairmanship of the 
Committee, but was one of its most energetic members ; and his zeal- 
137 



4 ZACIIARIAH CHANDLER. 

cms and faithful efforts, in connection with his associates, soon re- 
sulted in the removal ofM'Clellan from his command. Equally 
active was he throughout the war in promoting its efficacy, looking 
after the interests of the soldiers, and encouraging all measures 
tending to a successful issue of the great struggle. 

Mr. Chandler was re-elected in 1869 for a third term, which ex- 
pired in 1875. His later speeches, like those delivered at an 
earlier period in his senatorial career, evince the ardor of his tem- 
perament and the strength of his convictions. One of his most 
noteworthy efforts was a masterly speech on the subject of Ameri- 
can Commerce, delivered May 28, 1^7<', which commanded the 
close attention of the entire Senate. A multitude of deeply inter- 
esting facts were presented by the speaker, and such as were calcu- 
lated tn excite serious consideration in the minds of American 
state-men. Among them was the following personal reminiscence, 
which indicates the hearing of the Speech: " Twenty-seven \ears 
ai;o 1 spent a winter abroad, and at that time I saw more ships 
bearing the American than the flag of any other nation in the dif- 
ferent ports which I visited. During the past summer, in a six 
months' journey or more. I do not remember having seen but one 
single American flag in European waters." 

Mr. Chandler has been very successful in business, having amassed 
a fortune equaled by that of very few men in public life. At the 
same time he has been remarkably successful in politics, having 
seen longer continuous service in the Senate than any of his con- 
temporaries, save Mr. Sumner, lie is unswervingly faithful to his 
party obligations and to his friends, lie never abandons a man 
whom he has befriended so long as the man is true to him. Energy 
and perseverance are marked traits in his character. That he has 
reached his present high position is chiefly due to a will which de- 
viates before no obstacles, when once he has settled upon a policy 
to be pursued or a result to be attained. 

On the resignation of Mr. Delano as Secretary of the Interior, 
Mr. Chandler was appointed to till the vacancy, and in October, 
1875, entered upon the duties of the office. 
138 




/fYM^ 




HENRY B.AKTHOIT. 



V" W5 

{M^M EXRY B - ANTHONY was bom in Coventry, Rhode 
, Sly IS Island, April 1,1815. His ancestors were Quakers, who 
"Uf fi found in Rhode Island the "soul-liberty" which was de- 
nied their sect in other colonies. With studious habits and aptness 
to learn, he entered Brown University at an early age, and gradu- 
ated in 1S33. He adopted the profession of journalism, and in 
1S3S he assumed editorial charge of the •' Providence Journal," 
which lie retained for many years, lie made a successful news- 
paper, which exercised a great influence in molding the politics 
and public opinion of Rhode Island, and still retains a command- 
ing position. 

Mr. Anthony first appeared conspicuously in politics in 1849, 
when he was elected Governor of Rhode Island. He served with 
honor, and was re-elected, but declined to be a candidate for a 
third term. Retiring from official life, he devoted himself, with 
industry, energy, and enlarging influence, to his profession. 

He was elected a Senator in Congress from Rhode Island, as a 
Republican, to succeed Philip Allen, Democrat, and took his scat 
in 1859 for the term ending in 1805. He was subsequently re- 
elected for the term ending in 1S71, and was then re-elected for a 
third term, upon which he has recently entered. Such repeated 
indorsement was well deserved. No member of the Senate has 
been more faithful to his duties, or more devoted to the interests 
of his State. 

His watchful care for the honor of Rhode Island was conspicu- 
ously manifested soon after his entrance into the Senate. Jeffer- 
son Davis, of Mississippi, had said in a speech: "Persecution 
reigned throughout the colonies, except, perhaps, (and it is a proud 
139 



2 HENRY B. ANTHONY. 

example too,) that of the Catholic colony of Maryland ; but the 
rule was persecution." In reply to this statement Mr. Anthony 
said " that the colony from which sprung the State of Rhode Island 
was the only spot on the face of the whole civilized world where a 
man might avow his belief in any religion or in no religion, and 
sutler no punishment, incur no disability, be called to no question 
there fur." lie further asserted that " religious freedom, or ' soul- 
liberty, 5 was discovered by Roger Williams, just as much as Harvey 
discovered the circulation of the blood or Kepler discovered the 
orbits of the planets." Twelve years later Mr. Anthony elabora- 
ted this idea in an admirable speech, which he delivered in the 
Senate on the occasion of the presentation of the statue of Roger 
Williams by the State of Rhode Island to the Congress of the 
United States. 

The speeches of Mr. Anthony in the Senate are marked by strong 
common sense, logical precision of statement, combined with an 
attractive beauty of style. They exhibit a familiarity with affairs 
resulting from long experience in public life, and a practical char- 
acter derived from thorough training in the art of journalism. 
They seldom have the formality and pretension of " orations," but 
are the brief and forcible' discussions of practical subjects when 
immediate re-nit- in legislation were to be reached. They touch 
upon all the great subjects which have attracted attention during 
twelve years, the most important in American history. 

He has served for many years as Chairman of the Committee on 
Printing, and as a member of the Committees on Claims, Naval 
Affaire, Mines and Mining, and Post-Offices. In March, 1869, he 
■was elected President of the Senate pro tempore, a position which 
he held for four years. Frequently called upon to occupy the 
chair, he presided with much ability, displaying rare familiarity 
with parliamentary law. Mr. Anthony is recognized as among 
the ablest and most progressive of Republican Senators. He has 
much influence, consequent upon his ability and his long service. 
There are now in the Senate only two others who have been so 
long members of that body. 

140 




v ' ^JCj-ji^ ^ 






LOT M. MORRILL. 



'* N *~'OT M. MORRILL was bom in Belgrade, Maine, May 3, 
'upaSi 1813. In 1834, at the age of twenty-one, lie entered 
Waterville College, but soon after left the institution to 
commence the study of law. Five years later he was admitted to 
the har, and entered upon a lucrative practice. Taking an active 
part in politics, he soon rose to prominence as a leader in the 
Democratic party. In 1S54 he was elected a Representative in 
the State Legislature, and in 1S50 he was elected to the State 
Senate, of which he was chosen President. 

lie had never been an apologist for slavery, though acting with 
the Democrats, and when they attempted to force slavery by fraud 
and violence upon the people of Kansas, he denounced the scheme, 
and severed his connection with the party. In 1857 he was nom- 
inated by the Republican party for Governor of the State, and was 
elected by a majority of fifteen thousand votes. He administered 
the State Government to the satisfaction of the people, and was by 
them twice re-elected. In 1S61 he was elected to the United 
States Senate to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Han- 
nibal Hamlin, elected Vice-President. 

He took his seat on the 17th of January, and on the 2d of March 
ensuing he made his first speech in the Senate. The occasion was 
an important one, it being the great debate on the resolution pro- 
posing an amendment fixing slavery irrevocably in the States 
where it existed. Mr. Crittenden, Mr. Douglas, and others, had 
advocated the proposition with great elocpience. Mr. Morrill en- 
tered the discussion against them, maintaining that the adoption of 
the proposition " would be an entire subversion of the theory of the 
Government, and would incorporate into the Constitution a 
141 



2 LOT M. MORRILL. 

principle entirely foreign." This speech gave him recognition 
among the leading minds in the Senate, a position which he has 
ever since maintained. 

In the first session of the Thirty-seventh Congress, convened by 
proclamation of the President, July 4, 1861, Mr. Morrill was one 
of the stanchcst supporters of the Government in its efforts to put 
down armed rebellion. Speaking in reference to a resolution to 
render legal and valid the doings of the President, he maintained 
that it was unnecessary, since " every measure of the President 
calculated to put down the rebellion, having reference to a state of 
insurrection in the country, is legal and is constitutional, and has 
not transcended the powers which are necessarily logically (Indu- 
cible from the powers conferred upon him by the Constitution." 

This extract gives the clue to Mr. Morrill's course during the 
entire war. The Union had no more honest and fearless defender 
in the halls of legislation. After the close of the war he -was 
among the foremost Republicans in laboring to secure a reconstruc- 
tion on the basis of freedom and equal rights which would render 
it permanent, lie firmly opposed the policy of President John- 
son, and voted for his conviction in the Impeachment Trial. 

Mr. Morrill had been re-elected in 1863 for the term ending 
March 4. l^'l'.'. In the election for the ensuing term there was a 
warm contesl between the friends of Mi'. Morrill and Mr. Hamlin. 
In the Republican caucus the latter was nominated by a majority 
of one vote, and was accordingly elected by the Legislature. But 
Mr. Morrill remained out of the Senate only a short time. On the 
death of William P. Fessenden he was appointed by the Governor 
of Maine, and was subsequently elected by the Legislature, to till 
the vacancy, taking his seat December 6, 1869. He served as 
Chairman of the Committee on Appropriations and Member of the 
Committee on the Library. 

The Senate contains no member more Senatorial in appearance, of 
more unquestioned honesty, or more marked ability. Strong in his 
convictions of truth and duty, fearless in his utterances, ready and 
impressive in speech, he is one of our best and ablest statesmen. 
142 







z^Jrtr&z^v^ 



TIMOTHY O. HOWE. 



gpllPIMOTHY O. HOWE is a native of LiveniK.ro, Maine, and 
v rB£ was born on the 24th of February, 1816. Many generations 

• $¥? since, bis ancestors settled in Massachusetts. His father 
was a physician, living in a strictly rural district, having a wide prac- 
tice among the farming community of fifty years ago. 

After receiving a good common school education, Mr. Howe 
studied law, first with Hon. Samuel P. Benson, of Wmthrop, and 
subsequently with Judge Robinson, of Ellsworth. In 1839 he was 
admitted to the bar, and immediately commenced the practice of his 
profession, at Readfield. In 1841 he married Miss L. A. Haynes. 

In politics, he was an ardent Whig, and a devoted admirer of 
Henry Clay. Taking a warm interest in political questions, he was 
elected by the Whigs of his district as a member of the popular 
branch of the Maine Legislature of 1845. The Hon. William Pitt 
Fessenden was a member of the same body. In the Legislature he 
took an active part in discussions, and was recognized as a young 
man of unusual promise. 

In the latter part of that year be removed from Maine to the 
Territory of Wisconsin, and opened a law office at Green Bay, which, 
at that time, was a small village, separated from the more thickly 
settled parts of the Territory by a wide belt of forest, extending for 
forty or fifty miles to the southward. He soon became known, how- 
ever, to the people of the Territory, and upon its admission into the 
Union, in 18-18, was nominated by the Whigs for Congress. The 
district being largely Democratic, he was defeated. In 1850 be was 
elected Judge of the Circuit Court. At that time the Circuit Judges 
of the State were also Judges of the Supreme Court, and Judge 
Howe was, during a part of his term, Chief Justice of the State. In 
143 



2 TIMOTHY 0. HOWE. 

1854, immediately after the passage of the Nebraska bill, the Whigs, 
Free Soilers, and Anti-Nebraska Democrats, of Wisconsin, met in 
mass convention at Madison, the capital, and organized the Republi- 
can party in that State. This occurred two years before the national 
organization of the party. Judge Howe was then on the bench, 
and took no active part in politics, but published a letter expressing 
his hearty approbation of the movement. The following year he 
resigned his office as Judge and resumed the practice of the law. 
He bore a leading part in the State canvass of that and the following 
year, as a speaker, in the advocacy of Republican principles ami 
the election of tin 1 nominee-, of the Republican party. 

The year 1856 was signalized by one of the most remarkable judi- 
cial trials in the history of jurisprudence. At the general election 
in November, L855, lion. Wm, A. Barstow, then the Governor of 
Wisconsin, was the Democratic candidate lor re-election. The can- 
didate of the Republican or opposition party was Hon. Coles Bash- 
ford, recently a dele-ate from the Territory of Arizona in the For- 
tieth Congress. 

The canvassers determined that Mr. Barstow had received the 
greatest number erf votes. In pursuance of that determination a 
certificate of election was issued to him, signed by the Secretary of 
State, and authenticated by the great seal of the State, and on the 
opening of the next political year Mr. Barstow took the oath of 
office, and was re-inaugurated witli imposing ceremonies and much 
display of military force. Mr. Bashford averred that, in fact, the 
greater number of legal votes were cast for him, and not for Mr. 
Barstow. lie contended that the canvass was fraudulent and false, 
and he resolved to try the validity of Mr. Barstow's title by a suit 
at law. Accordingly he also took the oath of office. On the L5th 
of January the Attorney-General tiled, in the Supreme Court of 
the State, an information in the nature of quo warranto against the 
acting Governor. That is snpposed to be the only instance in the 
history of Government, when the people of a State have appealed to 
the jud'cial authority to dispossess an incumbent of the executive 
office. 

144 



TIMOTHY O. HOWE. 3 

Some of the best professional talent in the State was employed in the 
conduct of the cause, and in its progress party feeling was stirred to its 
lowest depths. An attempt was made to deterthe prosecution by threats 
that the litigation would be protracted so that no judgment could 
be obtained during the Gubernatorial terra. It was broadly hinted 
on the argument, and freely asserted by a portion of the press, that, if 
the court should give judgment for the relator, the respondent, hav- 
ing already the command of the militia of the State, would not submit 
to the judgment. For the relator appeared, besides Mr. Howe, Mr. 
E. (}. Ryan, Mr. J. II. Knowlton, and the late Postmaster-General, 
Ibni. A. W. Randall, while the defence was managed by Mr. J. E. 
Arnold, Judge ( >rton and the present Senator Carpenter. 

It was expected that Mr. Ryan would lead the prosecution. He 
was a Democrat in politics, and so was politically opposed to his 
client; and, moreover, was a lawyer unsurpassed for ripe learning 
and forensic ability by any member of the profession in the United 
States. But an unfortunate disagreement between him and the court, 
in the commencement of the contest, induced his temporary withdraw- 
al from the case, and thereupon the lead was assigned to Mr. Howe. 

A sketch of the progress of the case would hardly fail to interest 
both the professional and the general reader; but space forbids. The 
prosecution, however, was completely triumphant. In spite of threat- 
ened delays, the court unanimously gave judgment for the relator, 
on the 24th day of March, 1856 — but little more than two months 
from the commencement of proceedings — and in spite of threatened 
resi>tance, the relator was, on the next day, quietly and peaceably 
installed in the office. 

The reputation won by Judge Howe, in the management of that 
great State trial, gave to his name marked prominence as a candidate 
for the U. S. Senate in the place of Hon. Henry Dodge, whose term 
expired on the 4th of March, 1857. 

When the Legislature assembled, his election was regarded as al 
most certain. But no sooner had the canvass for Senator fairly 
opened, than a novel question was raised in the party, for an explana- 
tion of which it is necessary to refer to events that had transpired 
145 



4 TIMOTHY O. HOWE. 

some years before. In 1S54 a fugitive slave from Missouri was 
arrested at Racine, Wisconsin, taken to Milwaukee, and there 
thrown into jail for security, while the master was engaged in com- 
plying with the legal forms necessary to enable him to reclaim his 
human property. The fugitive had been treated with great bar 
barity at the time of his arrest, and popular feeling, inflamed by this 
circumstance, and by detestation of Shivery and the Fugitive Slave 
act, became so turbulent that it resulted in the organization of a mob 
which broke open the jail, released the fugitive, and sent him to Can- 
ada. Some of the prominent actors in this proceeding were arrested 
for violating the provisions of the Fugitive Slave law, but were re- 
leased upon a writ of habeas corpus, partly upon technical grounds, 
and partly on the ground that the Fugitive Slave act was unconsti- 
tutional. Subsequently the case came before the Supreme Court of 
the State, ami one of the Judges delivered a very elaborate opinion, 
pronouncing the Fugitive act unconstitutional, and affirming the 
most ultra doctrines of the State Rights school of Southern politi- 
cians, hut applying them to the detriment instead of the support of 
slavery. The decision became at once immensely popular with a 
great number of radical anti-slavery men in the State, and was 
thought by them to he an admirable example of capturing the guns 
of an enemy and turning them against him. This da>s of Republi- 
cans regarded what they termed an anti-State Rights Republican as 
a little worse than an out and out pro-slavery Democrat, Accord- 
ingly, when the senatorial election approached, in the winter of 1857, 
the friends of other candidates raised the cry of State Rights, and 
averred that Judge Howe was unsound on that issue. In a caucus 
of the Republican members of the Legislature a resolution was 
adopted in substance identical with the first of the celebrated Ken- 
tucky resolutions of 1798, declaring the right of each State to be the 
final judge of the constitutionality of laws of the United States, and 
in ease of infractions upon what it held to be its rights, that it should 
determine for itself as to the mode and measure of redress. Each 
of the candidates was requested to declare whether or not lie ap- 
proved of the doctrines of the resolution. Judge Howe alone re- 
146 



TIMOTHY O . HO W E . 5 

fused to endorse them. lie preferred to remain a private citizen 
rather than secure a seat in the Senate by endorsing doctrines which 
lie regarded as unsupported by the Constitution, and in practice fatal 
to the perpetuity of the Union. The result was that lie was de- 
feated, and the Hon. James R. Doolittle elected. But his defeat on 
such grounds attached to him, by the strongest ties of per- 
sonal esteem and devotion, a large body of influential mem- 
bers of the party who were in harmony with him on the 
question of State Sovereignty. They agreed with their opponents 
that the Fugitive Slave law was an infamous statute, and they thought 
it unconstitutional; hut they denied that a State court possessed the 
right of passing final judgment upon a law of the United States. Upon 
this question a dangerous division continued among the Republicans of 
Wisconsin, until the breaking out of the rebellion. Judge Howe was 
the leader of the Republicans who repudiated the State Sovereignty 
theory. At every Republican State Convention the question arose, and 
the opponents of State Sovereignty, only by 'lint of the most strenu- 
ous efforts, succeeded in fighting off an endorsement of the principle 
in the Republican platform of the State. On two occasions, once be- 
fore a Republican State Convention, and again in the Assembly Cham- 
ber during the session of the Legislature, Judge Howe met in debate 
the ablest and most brilliant champions of the State Sovereignty the- 
ory, the Hon. Carl Schurz, then a resident of Wisconsin, and Judge 
A. D. Smith, the author of the opinion pronouncing the Fugitive law 
null and void, and achieved a signal victory over them in the argu- 
ment of the question. The next senatorial election in Wisconsin occur- 
red in the winter of 1S61. In the pretended secession of the Southern 
States, justified upon the ground of the sovereignty of each State, the 
people had a practical illustration of the ultimate consequence of the 
doctrine. It was the vindication of Judge Howe. The quality of 
his Republicanism was no longer questioned, and a Republican Leg- 
islature elected him to the Senate. From that time to the present 
he has borne himself in all the new and perplexing crises, that have 
occurred in our political history in such a manner as to secure 
the approbation of his constituents. 
147 



6 TIMOTHY 0. II OWE. 

At the expiration of his term in 1807 Mr. Howe was re-elected, 
and in 1873 lie entered upon his third term in the Senate. In his 
Senatorial career he had displayed so much ability, so much con- 
sistency and steadfast adherence to principle, that the people of 
Wisconsin, on the occasion of both these re-elections, demanded 
his return with unexampled unanimity. No legislative caucus 
was held to nominate a candidate for Senator, and Mr. Howe re- 
ceived the unanimous vote of the Republican members when the 
elections occurred. 

Mi - . Howe has done valuable service on many important com- 
mittees. During the war he was a member of the Finance Com- 
mittee. In the Fortieth Congress he was made Chairman of the 
Committee on Claims, one of the most laborious committees of the 
Senate. More recently lie became Chairman of the Committee on 
the Library, and a member of the Committees on Foreign Relations 
and Railroads. 

lie is one of the most fluent, graceful, and persuasive speakers 
in the Senate, lie i- ;m ever-readj and ever-faithful defender of 
Republican principles. An illustration is found in the following 
fine climax from a speech in reply to Mr. Thurinan, who hail pro- 
nounced the Republican party a failure: 

" I am one of those who >till cherish the conviction that Repub- 
lican administration has not been a failure. Nay, more, sir, I am 
even rash enough to stand here and assert that, in my judgment, 
Republicanism has been a success. I think more than that — it lias 
been a triumph. I venture to go further than that, and to say to 
any student of political history that he cannot find the story of a 
political party which, in a single decade, has accomplished so much 
for human rights and for human progress as the Republican party 
has during that less than a decade in which it has held the reins 
of Government." 

In similar tone was his reply to Mr. Bayard's charge of injustice 
practiced against the South by Congress, in which Mr. Howe main- 
tained " that this administration of the Government is the first one 

148 



TIMOTHY O. HOWE. 7 

winch ever undertook to carry justice to the Southern section of 
the United States." 

Among the numerous propositions that have been made for the 
improvement of the Civil Service, none is more comprehensive and 
far reaching in its prospective results than one offered by Mr. 
Howe. He proposed in the Senate a plan for the organization of 
a National University, which would prove a powerful agency in 
the elevation of the Civil Service, as well as for the promotion of 
the educational interests of the country. His speech on this occa- 
sion displayed his generous conceptions of what a university should 
he. fie said : 

"It should startle the nation to reflect that the destiny of this 
great Republic, the welfare of these millions, is committed to the 
control of free thought. Whether that thought be sensible or 
senseless, virtuous or vicious, it still sways the national course. 
We do certainly know that if unwise and wicked influences pre- 
vail the Republic must surely be wrecked. Yet knowing tin's, the 
fact remains that the teacher and the preacher, those who are espe- 
cially charged with the care of the minds and souls of men, are the 
men who live the nearest to beggary of all who labor among us. 
When we shall venture to lay the foundation of a National Uni- 
versity let us endow it not meanly but richly, furnish it with the 
instructions of the best intellects of the age, and pay thorn as be- 
comes a nation whose temporal salvation depends upon intellect." 

He would appropriate to the support of the University a million 
dollars a year, a sum which seems very large, yet would lie but at 
the rate of two and a half cents per capita of our population, or 
but a cent on every three hundred dollars of our national wealth. 
An additional tax on whisky of two cents on a gallon would yield 
the whole amount. " And," the Senator humorously remarked, 
"a man who drinks whisky never complains of any thing that 
enters into its cost." He proposed that the University be made 
directly beneficial to that important corps of subordinate officials 
who are employed in Washington. His plan was to fill the three 
thousand clerkships in the Departments with graduates from our 
149 



8 TIMOTHY 0. HOWE. 

colleges, who would thus be able to complete their studies and sup- 
port themselves by service to the Government. With such a num- 
ber of scholarships offered, there would be afforded to ambitious 
and worthy young men of moderate means, all over the country, 
an opportunity to obtain a liberal education, while in them the 
Government would obtain a class of clerks far superior to those 
now employed. A proposition so novel and judicious, evinces a 
statesmanship which reaches beyond partisan exigencies, looking 
to results of enduring benefit to the country. 

As a speaker Mr. Howe is deliberate and impressive, with a 
ready command of language, and all the resources of extemporary 
oratory. He appears, indeed, to the best advantage in the sudden 
exigencies of debate, the excitement of the occasion stimulating 
his faculties and rousing them to the fullest action. In private 
life he is social and genial, attaching men to him by his cordiality 
and frankness, and winning their respect by his purity of character 
and genuine worth. 

15a 



J01OT SHEEMAX. 



'S W'N 103-1, three Shermans — two brothers and a cousin — emigra- 

\Mx ted from Essex, England, to the infant colony of Massachu- 
<jgfy setts Bay. One of them settled in Connecticut, where his 
family remained and prospered for many years. A great-grandson 
of the emigrant, who had become a Judge of one of the Connecticut 
Courts, dying in 1S15, his son, Charles Robert Sherman, himself a 
thoroughly educated lawyer, removed to Ohio, where he soon acquired 
an extensive practice, and in 1S23 became one of the Judges of the 
Supreme Court. He married young, and had a family of eleven 
children. In 1829, he died suddenly of cholera, leaving his family 
in destitute circumstances. One of his sons was William Tecumseh 
Sherman, now General of the Army. The eighth child of the family 
was John Sherman, who was born in Lancaster, Ohio, May 10, 1S23. 
He went steadily to school at Mount Vernon, Ohio, until he was 
fourteen years old. He was then sent to the Muskingum Improve- 
ment, to earn his own support, and to learn the business of a civil 
engineer, and was placed under the care of Colonel Samuel R. 
Curtis, the resident engineer of the work. He was thus employed 
for two years, in which he acquired the best, part of his early educa- 
tion, in learning the methods and forms of business, and acquiring 
habits of industry and self-reliance. The election of 1S3S, which 
brought the Democratic party into power, was followed by the re- 
moval of Colonel Curtis from his position, and the consequent loss 
of employment by John Sherman. 

His engineering apprenticeship closing thus abruptly, he com- 
menced the study of law with his brother, Charles T. Sherman, now 
United Stares District Judge in Ohio, who was then engaged as a 
lawyer, in Mansfield, Ohio. The day after he was twenty-one years 
151 ' 



2 JOEN SHE E M A N . 

old, he obtained a license to practice law, and immediately entered 
into a partnership with his brother, which lasted for eleven years. 
Entering at once upon an extensive practice, he soon obtained a wide 
reputation as a laborious, honest, and successful lawyer. 

In politics, John Sherman took a profound interest, although, as 
an ardent Whig, in a strongly Democratic district, he had no hope 
of obtaining office. He was sent as a delegate to the Whig National 
Conventions of 1848 and 1S52, and in the latter year was chosen a 
Presidential Elector. 

When the Nebraska issue arose in 1S54, he felt the necessity of 
combining all the elements of opposition against the further extru- 
sion of Slavery, and earnestly labored to build up the political organ- 
ization which soon developed into the Republican party, lie ac- 
cepted a nomination for Representative in Congress, from the Thir- 
teenth Ohio District, and. to his surprise, was elected. He entered 
the House of Representatives of the Thirty-fourth Congress, fully 
equipped for useful and successful public service. Fluent in debate, 
patient of details, laborious in investigation, conciliatory in temper, 
ami persistent in purpose, he entered at once upon a successful con- 
gressional career. 

In the first session of the Thirty-fourth Congress, he served upon 
the Kansas Investigating Committee, and prepared the famous re- 
port which the Committee presented to the House of Representatives 
and to the country. This brought him at once into honorable prom- 
inence before the people. At the close of the session the Repub- 
lican members of the House, through the influence of Mr. Sherman, 
adopted the amendment to the Army Bill, denying the validity of 
the slavery-extending laws of Congress. Had the Republican party 
stood upon that declaration as a platform, they would probably have 
carried the presidential election of 1856. Mr. Sherman wrote an ad 
dress to the people of the United States, elaborating the principle 
contained in that declaration. Although it was agreed upon by the 
Republican members of the House, Mr. Seward and other Senators 
dissented, and the doctrine was not promulgated. 

In the Thirty-fifth Congress, Mr. Sherman took an active part in 
152 



JOHN SHERMAN. 3 

the heated contest over the Lecompton Constitution and the En- 
glish Bill, and made many powerful speeches. lie served as Chair- 
man of the Naval Investigating Committee which made a most dam- 
aging exposure of the complicity of Buchanan and Toucey with the 
crimes of the slavery propagandists. He made an important speech 
upon the public expenditure, which was widely circulated as a cam- 
paign document. 

At the opening of the Thirty-sixth Congress occurred the memor- 
able contest for the Speakership, in which Mr. Sherman was the can- 
didate of the Republicans, lie had signed a recommendation of 
Helper's ''Impending Crisis," and this was made the pretext by the 
Southern members for a violent opposition to his election. Through 
a long series of ballotings he lacked but one or two votes of an elec- 
tion. In order to secure an organization, his name was finally with- 
drawn, and Mr. Pennington was elected. Mr. Sherman was at once 
honored with the Chairmanship of the Committee of Ways and 
Means, by virtue of which he became leader of the House of Repre- 
sentatives. He distinguished himself as chairman of this committee 
by putting through the House the Morrill Tariff, a measure greatly 
promotive of material prosperity to the country. 

In an important speech, delivered in reply to Pendleton, February, 
1861, he displayed a statesmanlike perception of the result of the 
conflict to which the South was rushing with such arrogant confi- 
dence, predicting that slavery would be destroyed, and that the North 
would triumph. 

Mr. Sherman was elected as a Representative to the Thirty-seventh 
Congress, but on the resignation of Mr. Chase, as a United States 
Senator, he was elected by the Legislature to a seat in the Senate. 
He was placed upon the most important committee of the Senate, 
that of Finance. He introduced the National Bank Bill, and had 
charge of that important measure, as well as of the Legal Tender 
Acts, on the floor and in the debates. 

His labors were chiefly confined to finance and taxation — to pro- 
viding money and maintaining credit to carry on the war. In Jan- 
uary, 1803, he delivered a speech against the continuance of the 
153 



4 JOHN SHERMAN. 

State Banking system, and one in favor of the National Banks, both 
of which were of decisive influence. 

In the Thirty-ninth Congress he introduced a hill to fund the 
public indebtedness, which, if passed, would have resulted in the 
saving of $20,000,000 of interest per annum, the wider dissemina- 
tion of the loan among the masses, and the removal of the debt from 
its present injurious competition with railroad, mercantile, manu- 
facturing, and all the other vital interests of the country. Unfor- 
tunately for the public interests, the bill was mutilated in the 
Senate and defeated in the House. 

In the second session of the Thirty-ninth Congress Mr. Sherman 
proposed the substitute for the Reconstruction bill, which finally 
became a law. In the Fortieth Congress he was Chairman of the 
Senate Finance Committee, and in this important position ex- 
erted a marked effect upon Congressional legislation. In the second 
session he reported a new hill for funding the national debt, and con- 
verting the Tiotes of the United States. lie advocated this bill as a 
measure of just and wise public policy in a speech of remarkable 
ability. 

The most conspicuous labors of Mr. Sherman in the Forty-first 
Congress were those by which ho secured the passage of the Cur- 
rency Bill and the Funding Bill. The latter bill was under con- 
sideration at intervals from the 11th of January, 1870, when it was 
introduced by Mr. Sherman, until its passage July 13, two days 
before the close of the session. 

On the 10th of January, 1872, Mr. Sherman was re-elected, and 
took his seat for his third Senatorial term on the 4th of March, 1873. 

In person he is tall and spare, with a large head, and counte- 
nance expressive of decision, firmness, and self-control. He speaks 
smoothly and rapidly, making no effort at display, aiming only to 
produce conviction by clear statement of facts and arguments. 



154 



ALEXANDER RAMSEY. 




LEXANDER RAMSEY, was born near Harrisburg, 
Pennsylvania, September 8, 1815. His paternal an- 
\hI<?->X cestry were Scotch, as tbe name indicates, having de- 
scended from two emigrations — one to the North of Ireland, and 
thence to the United States, constituting the well-known Scotch- 
Irish population of this country. The family of his mother was of 
German descent. 

Left an orphan at ten years of age, by the death of his father, young 
Ramsey was assisted by an uncle in his efforts to obtain an education 
and engage in business. He was a clerk in the store of this uncle at 
Harrisburg. About the year 1828, he was for a short time employed 
in the office of the register of deeds of Dauphin County. He after- 
ward qualified himself to pursue the business of house-carpenter, but 
at length, impelled by a love of reading, he determined to study law. 
With this view, he became a student of Lafayette College, at Ea«ton, 
Pennsylvania, whence he passed, in 1837, to the office of Hamilton 
Alrich, Esq., of Harrisburg. He also prosecuted his studies at Car- 
lisle in the law-school of Hon. John Reed, and was admitted to prac- 
tice in 1839. During this period he often engaged in teaching. 

The following year was the celebrated Harrison campaign ; and 
Mr Ramsey was so prominent in the organization of "Whig clubs, 
that he was chosen Secretary of the Electoral College, which cast the 
votes of Pennsylvania for Harrison and Tyler. In 1841, he was 
elected chief clerk of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania. 
In 1843, he was nominated for Congress, and elected representative for 
the district composed of the counties of Dauphin, Lebanon, and 
Schuylkill, and served in the Twenty-eighth Congress, (1813-4.) 
Having been reelected in 1S14, was a member of the Twenty-ninth 
Congress, which terminated March 4th, 1847. During these four 
155 



2 ALEXANDER RAMSEY. 

years Mr. Ramsey developed those qualities of sagacity and firmness 
which have been conspicuous during his whole career; and no mem- 
ber of the Pennsylvania delegation commanded more respect. His 
reputation extended to all parts of the State ; and his political friends 
intrusted to his management, as Chairman of the Whig State Com- 
mittee, the gubernatorial campaign of 1848, which also involved the 
election of General Taylor to the Presidency. 

Immediately after the inauguration of President Taylor, it devolved 
upon him to select the officers of the new Territory of Minnesota. 
The position of governor was tendered to Mi-. Ramsey, whose choice of 
a future residence on the Upper Mississippi was confirmed by a visit 
some years previously to Texas and othrr south-western territories. 
The date of his commission as governor was April 2, 1849; and in 
May he arrived, with his family, at St. Paul, where he has since 
resided. 

Mrs. Ramsey — nee Anna E irle Jenks— is also a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, the daughter of lion. Michael II. Jenks, of Bjrks county, 
who served in Congress as a colleague of Mr. Ramsey. 

When Governor It imsey assumed his duties as the executive offi- 
cer of the Territory of Minnesota, he ascertained, by a census, that 
the population, other than Indians, was only 4,680, mostly in the vi- 
cinity of Fort Snelling, and in the settlements of lumberers on the 
St. Croix River. The Indians, recently increased by a removal to a 
reservation in the Territory of the Winnebago tribe, numbered about 
35,000; and the entire region west of the Mississippi River was in 
their possession, except the military reservation inclosing Fort Snell- 
ing. The western limit of the Territory was the Missouri River; and 
the entire area was fully 166,000 square miles. 

The territorial government was organized June 1, 1849. On the 
11th of June, an executive proclamation established three judicial 
districts, and provided for the first election of a territorial legislature. 
This body assembled in the dining hall of the Central Hotel, in St. 
Paul, on the 3d of September. In the first message of the governor, 
he strongly advised against a public debt, and invoked the action of 
156 



ALEXANDER RAMSEY. c 

Congress to extend the preemption laws to unsurveyed lands, and to 
limit the sales of the public lands to actual settlers. The National 
Legislature promptly responded to the recommendation in favor of 
preemptors; and the evil of non-resident ownership has had less ex- 
istence under the land administration in Minnesota than in many 
other Western States. 

Governor Ramsey almost immediately commenced negotiations 
with the Indian tribes for tue cession of their possessory rights to the 
public domain. The treaty of Mendota was first effected, by which 
the title of the Sioux half-breeds to a valuable parallelogram of ter- 
ritory near Lake Pepin, conterminous with the lake and extending 
westward about thirty miles, was commuted, and the district opened 
to settlement. During the years 1851-2, a negotiation was made with 
the Dakota nation for the cession of forty million acres west of the 
Mississippi, and which now constitutes Southern Minnesota. The first 
treaty of July 18, 1851, was amended by the Senate of the United 
States, requiring a new assemblage of the bands in 1852. 

In the autumn of 1851, Governor Ramsey negotiated with the 
Chippewas of Northern Minuesota for the cession of thirty miles on 
each side of the Red River of the North. This important treaty was 
not ratified by the Senate, postponing fully ten years the settlement 
of that region of Minnesota. After the adjournment of the Chippewa 
Council at Pembina, Governor Ramsey embarked on the Red River, 
and visited the Selkirk settlement, seventy miles north of the interna- 
tional frontier, on latitude 49°. His party was received with much 
consideration by Governor Christie, the officer of the Hudson Bay 
Company, then in command at Fort Garry. Few descriptions of this 
remote and unicpie colony convey a more vivid and correct impression 
than a narrative of this visit, which was afterward published by Go- 
vernor Ramsey, and partly repeated in a recent speech on the Win- 
nipeg insurrection, delivered in the Senate of the United States. 

In 1853, with a change of parties in the administration of the Fe- 
deral government, Governor Ramsey was succeeded in the office of 
territorial governor by Willis A. Gorman. In taking leave of the 
157 



* ALEXANDER RAMSEY 

executive office, a prediction was hazarded of the future progress of 
the new community on the sources of the Mississippi which was then 
deemed sanguine, but has been more than realized by events. Go- 
vernor Ramsey's last message assigned ten years for the accomplish- 
ment of a State organization, which was reached in 1858 ; and twenty 
years, or 1873, for a population of half a million, which has been fully 
realized by the census of 1870. His horoscope of railroad connec- 
tions with Chicago, St. Louis, Lake Superior, and the Red River of 
the North, for which twenty years were allowed, will be witnessed 
before 1873. 

During a period of great party excitement which followed tbe re- 
tirement of Governor Ramsey, he met some injurious imputations 
upon his conduct of the negotiations with the Sioux Indians, by a 
demand for an investigation by a committee of the United States 
Senate. The result was an emphatic approval of his action — the ver- 
dict of a body politically hostile. 

In 1855, Governor Ramsey Berved a term as Mayor of St. Paul. 
In 1857, ho was the candidate of the Republican Party for governor 
under the State organization. The election was close, the majority 
of II. II. Sibley, the Democratic candidate, who was declared chosen, 
having been exceeded by a vote on the Pembina frontier which was 
well known to be fraudulent. In 1859, on a second trial, he was 
elected governor, over G. L. Becker, by a majority of 3,752, in a to- 
tal vote of 38,918. 

On again assuming the executive office, Governor Ramsey illustrat- 
ed the practical qualities for which he has always been distinguished. 
He found the State deeply discredited ; ami he inaugurated a policy 
of rigid retrenchment. lie proposed and effected a reduction of 
salaries and a diminution of the number of members of the Legis- 
lature. 

The laws fl >r the imposition and collection of taxes were thoroughly 
revised; but, while husbanding the revenue, he opposed all sacrifices 
of the lands donated by the general government. He especially re- 
sisted the demand for the sale of the school lands at low rates, and 
158 



ALEXANDER RAMSEY. 5 

tin 1 distribution of their proceeds among the counties. He advocated, 
in a message of great force, that a minimum price of $8 per acre 
should be fixed, with a rate of $1.25 for swamp lands, reserving the 
proceeds of the latter for charitable institutions. These suggestions, 
with some modifications, were adopted. The fund accumulated 
under this legislation, in 1870, is $2,371,199, the proceeds of only 
363,000 acres, or about one eighth of the lands appropriated for the 
encouragement of education. 

At the outbreak of the Southern rebellion, Governor Ramsey was 
in Washington; and immediately after the attack upon Fort Sumter, 
even in advance of President Lincoln's proclamation, he called on the 
Secretary of War, and tendered 1,000 men from Minnesota. The 
tender was accepted by Mr. Cameron, and became the initiative of an 
enrollment of 25,0l>0 men of all arms — the contingent of Minnesota 
for the national defense. During the active scenes of the first year 
of the war, Governor Ramsey was reelected governor by a majority 
of 5,826 in a poll of 26,722 votes. 

An Indian war, unparalleled for atrocity, broke out in August, 
1802, upon the western frontiers of Minnesota. The Sioux bands, ob- 
serving the great exertions of the whites for the suppression of the 
rebellion, were prepared to believe that their great father at Washing- 
ton was powerless to repress hostilities; and an unfortunate delay in 
the payment of annuities increased the excitement. A fatal affray, 
which at airy other time would have passed with the punishment of 
the parties implicated, became the signal of wide-spread massacre. At 
least five hundred settlers, of all ages, lost their lives. Thousands 
abandoned their homes; and the panic extended to the Mississippi 
towns. Governor Ramsey was indefatigable in his exertions to re- 
store confidence and defend the frontier. Troops were dispatched 
under H. H. Sibley. The Indians were severely chastised ; a large 
number were captured, of whom thirty were executed at Mankato; 
and the Sioux nation was forcibly expelled from the territory of tbe 
State. During the progress of these events, an extra session of the 
Legislature became necessary. The message of Governor Ramsey 
159 



b ALEXANDER RAMSEY. 

on that occasion is a graphic narrative of this striking passage of bor- 
der history. 

In January, 1863, Governor Ramsey was elected Senator of the 
United States, in place of Henry M. Rice, and was chosen for a second 
term in i860. 

As Chairman of the Senate Committee on Post-Offices and Post- 
Roads, Senator Ramsey has devoted himself to the extension and re- 
form of that important branch of the public service. A series of trea- 
ties has been consummated with his efficient cooperation, by which 
the postal rates to England and Germany have been greatly reduced , 
and, in 1869, Mr. Ramsey visited Paris to urge a similar arrangement. 
The terms which he then indicated, as the representative of Post- 
master-General Creswell — although not immediately accepted— have 
since been proposed by the French government, but were met by a 
counter-proposition for a still more material reduction of postage. 
These negotiations are likely to result in a common rate to all parts 
of Europe not largely in excess of our inland postage. 

The abolition of the franking privilege has been proposed and 
supported by Senator Ramsey. A bill to that effect passed the House 
of Representatives at the session of 18H9-70, and led to an elaborate 
discussion in the Senate, but failed by a liw votes to become a law. 
The burden of the argument against all exemptions in the payment 
of postage mostly devolved on the Chairman of the Post-Office Com- 
mittee ; and his array of facts against the continuance of the franking 
privilege attracted the attention of the country. 

In answer to the allegation that the movement for the abolition 
of the Franking Privilege was mainly the work of the present 
Postmaster-General, Mr. Ramsey insisted that this was a great mis- 
take, and proceeded to illustrate, by numerous and ample refer- 
ences, that for the past half-century Postmasters-General of the 
United States have continually pressed the matter upon Congress; 
and as to the present Postmaster-General, Mr. Ramsey asserted 
that, receiving letters from all parts of the country asking the abo- 
lition of the privilege, and asking the Department to indicate how 
160 



ALEXANDER RAMSEY. 7 

the matter could be most effectually brought to the attention of 
Congress, he had given them a brief form, and this was all that 
had been done by the Department. 

In the progress of the discussion touching this subject, and 
responding to Mr. Sumner, who desired the reduction of postage 
to one cent per half ounce, Mr. Ramsey insisted that the United 
States rate of postage was extremely low — the least charge for 
postal service of any nation under the sun. English postage, he 
remarked, was nominally lower — about two cents of our coin ; but 
considering the limited extent of country, compared with ours, over 
which her mails were carried, her postage was really higher than 
ours. 

The efforts of Mr. Ramsay were ultimately crowned with success 
by the passage of an act abolishing the franking privilege, which 
took effect July 1, 1873. The bill originated in the House of 
Representatives, and but for the strenuous exertions of the Chair- 
man of the Post-Oflice Committee of the Senate it would not have 
passed that body. 

As a member of the Senate Committee on Pacific Railroads, Mr. 
Ramsey has contributed materially to the legislation facilitating the 
construction of the Northern Pacific Railroad, and is understood to 
advocate efficient encouragement to the enterprise of a Southern 
Transcontinental road. He has always favored three trunk lines 
between the Mississippi and the Pacific States as necessary and just. 
Observing also the beneficent influence of railroads in Minnesota 
and other States, he has supported the donation in aid of railways of 
alternate sections of public lands to give value to the domain still 
held by government, and to relieve the settlers of excessive burdens 
of transportation. 

Reference has been made to a visit by Governor Ramsey to the 
Selkirk Settlement, in 1S51, and to his favorable impressions of that 
singular and interesting community. As governor and senator, he 
has never omitted efforts to establish commercial and postal relations 
between the contiguous districts; and, in anticipation of the with- 
drawal of the jurisdiction of the Hudson Bay Company, he pre- 
161 



g ALEXANDER RAMSEY. 

sented to the Senate, in 1S68, the outlines of a treaty between the 
United States, England, and Canada, by which, with the cession 
of the north-west territory and British Columbia to the United 
States, Canada might make certain of a liberal arrangement for 
reciprocal trade, and all claims against Great Britain originating 
during the late civil war might cease to be a topic of diplomatic 
discussion. These views were repeated in 18T0, in connection 
with the resistance of the Red River people to a plan of irresponsible 
government under a Canadian official ; and though their consum- 
mation is for the present postponed, yet their influence upon the com- 
ing question of a political union between the United States and Ca- 
nada is very apparent. 

Tbis hasty summary will sufficiently indicate the prominent posi- 
tion of Senator Ramsey. Few of his colleagues have exhibited more 
tact in establishing and sustaining personal influence. His elaborate 
speeches are terse and pointed, seldom exceeding thirty minutes in 
delivery ; while his self-possession and force of statement in the con- 
versational discussions of the Senate are most effective* He has 
proved himself a vigilant guardian of the interests of Minnesota. Of 
a frank, hearty bearing, his figure, countenance, and voice concur to 
make him a favorite with his associates and with all observers. 
162 




/ ^ €2 /¥ 



WILLIAM SPRAGUE. 



€fsfi|lLLIAM SPRAGUE was born in Cranston, Rhode 
rfjssfi Island, September 11, 1830. ' His ancestor, Jonathan 
Sprague, first noticed in Rhode Island history in 1681, 
was for many years a member of the General Assembly. By 
intermarriage the family is connected with Roger Williams, the 
founder of the State. William Sprague, grandfather of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, early engaged in cotton manufacture, and par- 
ticularly in the business of calico printing. lie associated in busi- 
ness with himself his sons, Amasa and William. The elder Sprague 
dying in 1S36, the entire business fell into the hands of his two 
sons, who carried it forward on a constantly enlarging plan under 
the name of A. & W. Sprague. The junior member of the firm 
entered political life, and was successively a member of the General 
Assembly of Rhode Island, Representative in Congress, Governor 
of the State, and United States Senator. He relinquished the 
latter ofiice on the death of his brother in 1843, who left two sons, 
Amasa and William, the subject of this sketch. The surviving 
partner, abandoning politics, now devoted his whole time to busi- 
ness, enlarging and extending his works until 1856, when he died 
at the age of fifty-six, leaving one son, Byron. 

On the death of the first Governor Sprague it was supposed that, 
owing to the youth of his nephews and son, the great scheme he 
had projected for erecting another cotton mill which should sur- 
pass any in the State would be abandoned. The friends of the 
young men strongly urged this step under the impression that their 
eight large cotton mills and extensive print works would be as 
much as they could profitably manage. The young men thought 
differently, and under the same firm name determined to carry out 
163 



2 "WILLIAM SPRAGUE. 

all the gigantic plans which hail been devised. They erected the 
great cotton mill at Baltic, which is built of stone, one thousand 
feet in length and five stories high, containing eighty thousand 
spindles. The erection of this immense structure, and one hun- 
dred dwelling houses for operatives, involved an expenditure of five 
hundred thousand dollars. 

The subject of this sketch had attended the common school 
until he was thirteen years old, when he was sent to the Irving 
Institute at Tarrytown, New York, where he remained two years. 
He was then placed by his uncle in the "factory store" in Cran- 
ston, where goods of all kinds are furnished to the operatives. 
Here he remained one year, when he was transferred to the count- 
ing-room of the company in Providence, where he opened the 
office, made the tires, cleaned the lamps, and swept out the office, 
doing such drudgery in so satisfactory a manner that after three 
years he was promoted to the place of bookkeeper. He occupied 
this position three } T ears, during which, by constant attention, he 
made himself familiar with all the ramifications of the extensive 
business, so that when he reached the age of twenty-two years he 
relinquished the books, and became an active partner in the con- 
cern. Here his active mind was constantly exercised. There was 
no portion of the business that did not come under his eye, ami 
witli which from actual experience he was not acquainted. Four 
years later his uncle died, when he was compelled to assume the 
whole weight of the business, which has gone on constantly aug- 
menting until it is said to be the largest establishment of the kind 
in the world. 

Early in life Mr. Sprague manifested strong military tastes. 
When twelve years of age he formed a military company of forty 
boys, of whom he was chosen the captain. In 1848 he joined the 
Marine Artillery Company as a private. He was soon promoted 
to the rank of Lieutenant, and was subsequently elected Captain, 
Lieutenant-Colonel, and finally Colonel. He took a deep interest 
in this organization, which he soon succeeded in making a full bat- 
tery of light artillery. 

164 



"WILLIAM SPR AGUE. 3 

The cares of business having greatly impaired his health, in 
1859 Mr. Sprague visited Europe. He visited all the battle-fields 

of the recent Italian war, as well as those memorable in the cam- 
paigns of the first Napoleon. While in Italy he became ac- 
quainted with Garibaldi, and contributed liberally toward the fund 
then being raised for that distinguished patriot. 

After an absence of seven months Mr. Sprague returned with 
health restored. The State of Rhode Island was at that time much 
agitated by the contending political parties. The Republicans had 
nominated a candidate fur Governor who was offensive to a large 
portion of the party, who determined not to support the nomina- 
tion. They called a convention, which nominated Mr. Sprague, 
and the Democrats also placing his name upon their ticket, he was 
elected. He proved himself in every respect an able executive, 
ami in 1861 was re-elected. 

President Lincoln's proclamation, calling for seventy-five thou- 
sand men for the defense of Washington, reached Providence on 
the 15th of April, 1861, and was immediately promulgated. On 
the 18th of April, three days after the proclamation was published, 
the first battery of light artillery, of six guns and one hundred 
and fifty men, under Colonel Tompkins, completely equipped and 
officered, took their departure for the capital. Two days later 
they were followed by the first battalion of the first regiment of 
infantry, seven hundred strong, under Colonel A. E. Burnside, 
with provisions for thirty days. The following week the second 
battalion, under Colonel J. S. Pitman, took its departure. Gov- 
ernor Sprague accompanied the regiment in person. The entire 
force of this regiment and battery numbered nearly fourteen hun- 
dred men. Arriving in Washington, the Rhode Island troops en- 
camped in a beautiful grove near the city, to which they gave the 
name of " Camp Sprague." 

After remaining a few weeks with the regiment, assiduously 

occupied in providing for officers and men, the Governor returned 

to Rhode Island. He determined to form a second regiment, and 

by his zeal and energy induced hundreds to come forward and join 

165 



i WILLIAM SPR AGUE. 

the ranks. The regiment was soon filled up, and after remaining 
in camp a few weeks to perfect themselves in drill, embarked for 
Washington accompanied by Governor Sprague. 

Governor Sprague remained with the Rhode Island troops most 
of the time, and accompanied them on their march with the army 
to Centerville on the 16th of July, 1801. In the memorable battle 
of Bull Run, which took place on the 21st, the Rhode Island troops 
were among the foremost in the fight, and suffered severely. Their 
gallant Governor was with them in the thickest of the battle, aud 
when his horse was shot from under him by a cannon ball, he 
seized a rifle from the grasp of a dead soldier, and, rushing forward, 
took his place in the ranks, encouraging the men by his presence 
and bravery. Two bullet holes found in his clothes after the bat- 
tle showed that he had not shrunk from danger. 

On his return to Rhode Island Governor Sprague did not in the 
least relax his efforts. He determined that his State should furnish 
her lull quota of the five hundred thousand men called for by Presi- 
dent Lincoln. The artillery arm of the service having proved so ef- 
fective in the battle of Bull Bun, Governor Sprague raised a full regi- 
ment often batteries of six rifled guns of one hundred and fifty men 
each. Other regiments were speedily sent forward, and soon Rhode 
Island had furnished far more than her proportion of troops. 

He was offered by President Lincoln a commission as Brigadier- 
General, which be declined. He gave the Government his cordial 
co-operation, both personally and officially, until the close of his 
term as Governor. Among all the "loyal Governors" none were 
more zealous supporters of the war or braver defenders of the 
Union than William Sprague 

Soon after the close of his second gubernatorial term Mr. 
Sprague was elected United States Senator for six years from 
March 4, 1863, and was re-elected for the term ending in 1875. 
He served as Chairman of the Committee on Manufactures, and as 
a member of the Committees on Commerce and Military Affairs. 
In the impeachment trial he voted President Johnson guilty of 
high crimes and misdemeanors as charged in the indictment. 
166 








/A -^Cfk^s- 



Y 






WILLIAM M. STEWART. 




,*>, 



rILLIAM M. STEWART was born in Wayne County, New 
York, August 9th, 1827. When eight years old he re- 
moved with his father to Trumbull County, Ohio. He 
worked on a farm in summer, and attended school in winter, until 
thirteen years old, when he left home with the consent of his parents 
and worked at farming for various persons, at six, eight, and twelve 
dollars a month, until 1844. In the Spring of that year he drove a 
herd of cattle to Pennsylvania, and visited Philadelphia, the first 
large city he had seen. He thought of going to sea, and went on 
board the receiving ship with a view to getting into the Navy\ 
While on board he saw a boy badly treated, and thinking the situa- 
tion not congenial to him, he started back to Ohio. 

In the summer of 1845, he taught school in Hampden, Ohio, and 
subsequently attended an academy at Farmington. He then re- 
turned to his native county in New York, where he taught school, 
and prosecuted his studies, making especial proficiency in Mathemat- 
ics. He entered Yale College in 1818, remaining there until the 
winter of 1850, when he started for California, and arrived there by 
way of the Isthmus in the following April. He worked two years 
at mining with varied success. He ran for Sheriff of Nevada 
County in the Spring of 1851, but there being several oDposing can- 
didates, who made a combination, he was defeated by a few votes. 
Soon after he commenced the study of law, and in the fall of 1852 
was admitted to the bar, and appointed District-Attorney' on the 
same day. The next year he was elected to the same office by the 
Democratic party. In 1854, the Attorney-General of California 
left the State on leave of absence for six months, and Mr. Stewart 
was appointed in his place. He subsequently went to San Francisco 
167 



2 WILLIAM M. STEWART. 

and formed a law partnership with ex -Governor Henry S. Foote 
of Mississippi, and Judge Aldrich, which continued about two 
years. In the spring of 1855 he married a daughter of Governor 
Foote and went back to Nevada, where he remained practicing 
law until 1857. He then went to Downieville, where there was a 
great deal of litigation growing out of mining disputes. He got 
the lead of the practice, and received large fees. In the spring of 
1860 he went to the Territory of Utah — now Nevada — where he 
was employed by the first locators of the Comstock Lode to manage 
their heavy litigations. 

"When the Legislature of Nevada was organized he was in the 
Territorial Council. He took an active part in organizing the 
Union party, and in 1863 he was a member of the Constitutional 
Convention. < >n the admission of Nevada into the Union he was 
elected to the United States Senate, and was admitted to his seat 
February 1, 1865. Ee was subsequently re-elected for a second 
term ending in 1875. Upon his entrance into the Senate he was 
appointed to the important Committees on the Judiciary, Public 
Lands, Pacific Railroad, and Mines and Mining. Of the last 
named Committee he subsequently served as Chairman. 

He took a prominent part in the important discussions of the 
Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses relating to reconstruction 
measures. On the 24th of May, 1866, he made a speech, of two 
hours' duration, on a pending Constitutional Amendment, in which 
he advocated "pardon for the rebels and the ballot for the blacks." 
He stood in the Fortieth Congress among the firmest opposers of the 
policy of President Johnson, and voted for his conviction in the 
Impeachment Trial. Mr. Stewart drafted, and reported from the 
Judiciary Committee, the Fifteenth Amendment, and had charge 
of it during the entire contest which resulted in its adoption by 
the Senate, thus rendering a service to the country which connects 
his name with one of the greatest events of American history. 
The bill for the enforcement of the Fifteenth Amendment, which 
subsequently became a law, was reported by him from the Judi- 
ciary Committee. 

168 





/ni 




AAEON H. CEAGEN". 



[^ AEON H. CRAGIN was born in Weston, Vermont, Feb- 
ruary 3, 1S21. He is of Scotch descent, one of Lis an- 
V ■■■-;■-' ji cestors being John Cragin, who was among the prisoners 
taken by Cromwell at the great battle of Dunbar, September 3, 1650, 
and banished to America. 

Aaron worked at farming and in a woolen mill until he became of 
age. His education was principally acquired at " Burr Seminary," 
Manchester, Vermont, and at the "Lebanon Liberal Institute," at 
Lebanon, N. H. Having finished his studies at the academy, he re- 
turned to his native town of Weston, and entered at once upon the 
study of law. He afterwards spent two years in law studies at 
Albany, New York, and was admitted to the bar in New York ( lity, 
in the fall of 1847. The same year he moved to Lebanon, N. IL, and 
commenced the practice of his profession. 

In 1848, Mr. Cragin took an active part in the canvass for Gen. 
Taylor, and was an associate editor of the Granite State Whig, pub- 
lished at Lebanon. In 1S52, he was on the electoral ticket for Scott 
and Graham, and made numerous speeches in behalf of those candi- 
dates. In the years of 1852, 1853, 1S54, and 1S59, he was a member 
of the New Hampshire legislature. He was elected to the Thirty- 
fourth Congress, a representative from the Third Congressional Dis- 
trict of New Hampshire, by a majority of 3,000 ; although this Dis- 
trict, before that time, had been strongly Democratic. He was 
re-elected in 1S57, and served through the Thirty-fifth Congress. 

Mr. Cragin was a delegate at large from New Hampshire to the 
Republican Convention at Chicago, in 1860, and voted first and last 
169 



2 AARON II. CRAG IX. 

for Abraham Lincoln, and supported him upon the stump in every 
county in New Hampshire. 

In June, 1864, he was elected to the United States Senate, to 
succeed John P. Hale, and was re-elected in 1870. Upon entering 
the Senate Mr. Cragin was appointed a member of the Committee 
on Territories, of which he became chairman upon the resignation 
of Mr. Grimes. Among the many important measures originated 
or promoted by this committee since Mr. Cragin has been its chair- 
man, may be mentioned a regulation requiring examination for pro- 
motion, and an act making the course at the Naval Academy six 
years instead of four. The efficiency of the service has been in- 
creased by the building of eight additional steam-vessels of war, 
and by the passage of an act by which the pay of all honorably re- 
tired officers was increased to three fourths of the highest sea-pay, 
and at the same time such officers are not allowed to have active 
employment except in time of war. 

As a member of the Committee on Territories, with which he 
has been connected since his accession to the Senate, Mr. Cragin 
has been prominently identitied with all legislation tending to de- 
velop the " Great West." lie has been an active opposer of po- 
lygamy in Utah ; and his great speech, delivered in tiie Senate 
May 18, 1870, was one of the severest blows ever administered to 
" the loathsome and festering monster of polygamous Mormonism." 

Mr. Cragin's speeches in the Senate are not frequent, but are 
invariably characterized by sound logic and just conclusions care- 
fully reached and forcibly expressed. Watchful of the interests of 
his constituents, faithful to his party obligations, and devoted to 
his country, he combines the qualities requisite to a wise and useful 
legislator. 



170 



GEOEGE F. EDIUIDS. 




EORGE F. EDMUNDS was bom in Richmond, Ver- 
mont, February 1, 1S28. His education was carried 

Jtey* somewhat beyond the curriculum of the common schools 
by the instructions of a private tutor. Possessing naturally an 
acute intellect and a practical readiness with his mother-tongue, he 
took almost instinctively to the law, which he studied with unusual 
assiduity and success, lie was admitted to the bar in 1S49, and 
eschewing politics, devoted himself exclusively to his profession, in 
which he had unusual success. In 1851 he settled in Burlington, 
and in 1854, in 1857, in 1858, and in 1S59 he was elected to the 
lower branch of the Vermont Legislature, in which he served three 
years as Speaker. In 1861 and 1802 he was elected to the State 
Senate, and was President pro tern, of that body. 

On the breaking ont of the rebellion he was a member of the 
State Convention which met to form a coalition between the Re- 
publicans and War Democrats, and drew up the resolutions which 
were adopted by the Convention as the basis of union for the 
country. lie was appointed to the United States Senate as a Re- 
publican to fill the vacancy caused by the death of Hon. Solomon 
Foote, and took his seat April 5, I860. He was elected by the 
Legislature for the remainder of the term ending March 4, 1S69, 
and was re-elected without opposition for the further terra of 
six years. He entered upon his third term March 4, 1875. 

On the 10th of December, 18G6, soon after taking his seat in the 
Senate, Mr. Edmunds, as Chairman of the Committee on Retrench- 
ment, reported a bill to regulate the tenure of civil offices. In bring- 
ing forward the measure, Mr. Edmunds asserted that they were 
"acting in no spirit of hostility to any party or administration 
171 



2 GEORGE F. EDMUNDS. 

whatever, but for the true republican interest of the country under 
all administrations, and under the domination of all parties, in the 
growth before the nation in the future." 

In the session of Congress which convened at the beginning of 
President Grant's administration, it was proposed to repeal the 
Tenure of Office Law. This proposition was earnestly opposed by 
Mr. Edmunds in several speeches of much eloqueiree and force of 
logic. "I submit to Senators, seriously," said he, "not for this 
President, not for this Vice-President, not for to-day or to-morrow 
or this age, but for that great age which is to come after us, when 
we have a hundred States and a hundred million people, whether 
it is not worthy of some consideration whether this body should lay 
aside from it powers which we all now. excepting the Democrats, 
confess either belong to it by the Constitution, or may and ought 
to be properly conferred upon it by law." 

Mr. Edmunds served on the Committees on Commerce, Public 
Land.-. Retrenchment, ami Appropriations. During the Forty-first 
( 'ongress lie was Chairman of the * lommittee on Pensions. In the 
re-organization of committees consequent upon the participation of 
several Republican Senators in the "Liberal" movement, in the 
third session of the Forty-second Congress, Mr. Edmunds was ap- 
pointed to succeed Mr. Trumbull as Chairman of the Judiciary 
( on unit tee. 

He frequently addressed the Senate, especially on subjects re- 
ported from the committees with which he was connected. His 
speeches evince much practical knowledge of affairs, and great fa- 
miliarity with laws and precedents. He is a very fluent speaker, 
with much readiness of repartee and skill in the art of extempo- 
raneous argument. 



172 



EOSCOE CONKLING. 



>41WOSCOE CONKLING was born in Albany, New York, 
($31?% October 30, 1S2 ( J, and is descended from a family lon<jr con- 
A nected witb state and national politics. His father, Hon. 
Alfred Conkling, was a member of the Seventeenth Congress, and was 
subsequently chosen United States District Judge for the New York 
District, the duties of which office he discharged with distinguished 
honor and ability. He was afterwards appointed, by President Fill- 
more, minister to Mexico. A brother to Roscoe — Hon. Frederick 
A. Conkling — was a leading member of the Thirty-seventh Congress, 
on many important committees, and universally respected as a man 
of unswerving honor and patriotism. 

The subject of this sketch commenced his legal studies at the 
early age of fifteen in the law office of L. A. Spencer, Esq., of Utica. 
Evincing an early dislike for " formalities of schools and colleges," he 
seems to have secured but few of the advantages of an elaborate 
education aside from what he had gained under the paternal roof. 

In 1849 the office of district-attorney of Oneida County becoming 
vacant, he was appointed by the Governor of the State to fill the 
vacancy. On receiving this important appointment he had just 
reached his majority, and yet it was universally conceded by mem- 
bers of the legal profession that the duties of the office were never 
more skillfully and energetically discharged. 

In 1858 Mr. Conkling was elected Mayor of the city of Utica — 

being the youngest man who has ever filled that office. He was elected 

a Representative from New York to the Thirty-sixth Congress in 

the fall of 1858, and was re-elected to the Thirty-seventh Congress. 

173 



2 ROSCOE COXKLING. 

He served as Chairman of the Committee on the District of Colum- 
bia, and also as Chairman of the Special Committee on the Bankrupt 
Law. In the Thirty-ninth Congress, to which he was also elected, 
he was placed on the Committee of Ways and Means, and on the 
Joint Committee on Reconstruction. 

By a large majority, Mr. Conklin was elected a Representative 
to the Fortieth Congress ; but before taking his seat he was chosen 
by the Legislature of New York as a United States Senator to 
succeed Hon. Ira Harris. 

After serving six years, on the 4th of March, 1873, he entered 
upon his second term in the Senate. He served as a member of 
the Committees on the Judiciary, Commerce, and Foreign Rela- 
tions, and as Chairman of the Committee on the Revision of the 
Laws of the United States. 

He took a prominent part in legislation pertaining to Recon- 
struction, and voted with the majority in favor of the conviction 
of President Johnson in the Impeachment Trial. He has been one 
of the firmest adherents of the administration of President Grant; 
and with great zeal, eloquence, and ability has advocated all the 
important party measures which have been proposed since his con- 
nection with the Senate. 

His speeches, which are frequent, are always aide and effective. 
Of one of them — a speech in defense of Caldwell — a writer says: 
" It seemed a bounteous, irresistible outpouring of law and logic, 
argument, illustration, and satire. lie is a wizard in words, a necro- 
mancer in logic. His best power, both in statement and reasoning, 
is exquisitely subtle. His argument is a web, fine as a gossamer, 
but firm as steel. He never allows his brilliant rhetoric to overload 
his theme. Mr. Conkling is a speaker who by his peculiar manner, 
arrogant and defiant, cynical, and at times supercilious, arouses 
your antagonism from the very first, so the final victory he wins 
over your mind, whether by sophistry and casuistry, or by clear 
logic and fair instruction, is the more complete. It is pure brain- 
power, intellectual absolutism. He has, I think, no humor; but 
wit of a certain frosty, biting sort, and a terrible power of sarcasm." 
174 





c 



JUSTIN S. MORRILL. 



'USTIIST S. MORRILL was born in Strafford, Vermont, 
April 14, 1810. At fifteen years of age he was taken from 

jg!?g$ an academy, where he was making rapid proficiency in study, 
and was placed in a country store. From that time he did not enjoy 
another day's schooling, though he has been a hard student all his 
life. After a year's experience as a merchant's clerk in his native 
village, having received for his services only $25, he went to Port- 
land and was employed in an extensive dry goods establishment. 
All the money that could be saved from his meagre salary was spent 
for books, which were studied with great avidity at such hours as were 
not occupied in his regular labors. By thus improving his time he 
pursued a considerable course of classical studies, and read " Black- 
stone's Commentaries,'" but with no intention of becoming a lawyer. 
After three years spent in Portland, he returned to his native town, 
and formed a partnership in mercantile business with Judge Harris. 
Mr. Morrill continued in this business until 1S48, when he turned his 
attention to agricultural pursuits. 

In 1S5-4, he was elected a Representative from Vermont in the 
Thirty-fourth Congress, and remained a member of the House by 
re-elections for twelve continuous years. He was a member of the 
Committees on Agriculture, and Ways and Means. Of the latter 
committee, during the Thirty-ninth Congress, he held the important 
position of chairman, thus becoming what is technically styled 
"Leader of the House." 

He introduced a bill granting lands to agricultural colleges, which 

was passed by Congress, but was vetoed by President Buchanan. 

A similar bill, which finally became a law, was ably advocated by 

Mr. Morrill in a speech delivered June 6, 1S62. In 1856, he opposed 

175 



2 JUSTIN S. MORRILL. 

the admission of Kansas on the terms then proposed. Subsequently, 
as a member of a select committee of fifteen appointed to investigate 
matters in relation to Kansas, he prepared and presented a minority- 
report against the Lecompton constitution. 

His first speech on the tariff question was delivered in the House, 
Feb. 6, 1857, against a bill reported by Mr. Campbell of Ohio, the 
main grounds of Mr. Morrill's opposition being that it was too much 
in the interest of manufactures, and adverse to agriculture. The 
"Morrill Tariff" was introduced and explained by him in an elabo- 
rate speech, April 23, 1860. This tariff, which became a law in 
1S61, effected a change from ad valorem to specific duties on a large 
number of articles. Increasing the duties on wool and some other 
agricultural products, it added many articles to the free list. 

February 4, 1862, Mr. Morrill made a speech maintaining the im- 
policy of making paper a legal tender, since this would lead to infla- 
tion, and make great difficulty in the return to specie payments. 
He proposed a system of issuing exchequer bills, which, if adopted, 
would have tended to prevent the great depreciation of the currency 
which ultimately occurred. 

March 12, 1862, he made a speech explanatory of the Internal 
Tax Bill, which, as chairman of the sub-committee to whom the sub- 
ject was referred, he had performed the principal labor in preparing. 
By this bill was originated the vast internal revenue system which 
has served so excellent a purpose for the country. A system of 
such varied application, and yet so simple and efficient for subserv- 
ing the necessities of a great nation, was never before devised. The 
present head of the treasury, Mr. Boutwell, after having had the 
experience of executing the law, as Commissioner of Internal Reve- 
nue, said that it was " the most perfect system ever devised by any 
nation." 

In October, 1866, he was elected a Senator in Congress from Ver- 
mont, for the term ending in 1873. In the Senate he has made 
numerous and able speeches on the various subjects relating to the 
national finances and the public debt. 
176 



JUSTIN S. MORRILL. 3 

One of the ablest and most important of his speeches was that of 
May 9, 1S70, on the Reduction of Taxation; a masterly effort, 
abounding in important tacts and powerful arguments. He started 
out with the assumption, that "owing to the policy of our present 
Administration we should soon be able to part with all direct tax- 
ation, or all internal taxes, and the only subject then that will re- 
main for serious consideration will be the subject of the tariff." 
Thus entering upon the consideration of a subject with which he 
is as familiar as any other American statesman, Mr. Morrill thor- 
oughly explored the ground upon which the Republican party 
stood on this question, and showed that there was not " necessarily 
any such antagonism as should on principle now or hereafter divide 
the votes of its members." 

Mr. Morrill opposed the act constituting eight hours a day's work 
for all laborers, workmen, and mechanics employed by or in behalf 
of the United States. Against this measure he urged the objec- 
tions that the Eight Hour law applied only to those in the employ- 
ment of the General Government, is anti-republican, and offensive 
to all other laboring men; that such a law, universally applied, 
would be inconsistent with the highest interests of American work- 
ingmen ; that it would not afford any additional leisure which will 
be made available for mental and moral improvement ; that it is 
untrue that mankind will or can perform as much labor, and of 
equal value, in eight hours as in ten ; that the measure, if adopted 
now by our whole country, would prove an immeasurable 
national disaster; and that there are other means whereby labor 
has been and can be much more efficiently encouraged and 
protected. 

He opposed the repeal and the suspension of the Civil Tenure 
Act, advocating, however, a considerable modification of the law. 
He maintained that the law was enacted, not merely to bear upon 
a single President, but was intended as a part of the permanent 
policy of the country, and was in strict accordance with the Con- 
stitution. He favored the abolition of the Franking Privilege, 
dissenting, however, from the opinion that several millions would 
177 



4 JUSTIN S. MORRILL. 

thus be saved to the country. On the contrary, lie believed that 
nothing would be saved by the adoption of the measure. 

On the 7th of April, 1871, Mr. Morrill delivered a speech of 
great length against the annexation of Santo Domingo to the United 
States. Seldom has there been delivered in the Senate a speech 
more replete with facts, illustrations, and arguments. The follow- 
ing is one of the closing paragraphs : 

" Individuals occupy but a brief space in the march of time, and 
a generation blots them out, perhaps forever; but nations have a 
continuity lasting for ages, and a character to be transmitted to the 
immortal pages of future history. The past of our country is se- 
cure, and I would not jeopardize the future by the empty mockery 
of an exchange of moral grandeur for apparent or even for real 
material greatness. If I can divine the secrets of my own heart — 
and what I claim for myself I cordially concede to others — there 
is no passion, no sentiment lurking there which does not bow to a 
profound desire that our country should stand foremost among the 
nations of the earth, foremost in five and liberal institutions, fore- 
most in its moral fiber and intellectual reach, foremost in literature, 
arts, and laws, and foremost in all the glories which crown the 
most elevated civilization and the most liberal and, 1 hope I may 
add, stable form of human government. 

Mr. Morrill has done important service as a member of the Com- 
mittee on Finance and the Committee on Education and Labor. 
As Chairman of the Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds 
be has done much to promote the interests of the Government, 
and to educate the popular taste. In 1873 he was re-elected for 
a second term, which will end in 1879. "With excellent acquire- 
ments, long experience, a pure character, practical talent, and stu- 
dious habits, he gives promise of a further career of enduring honor 
and increasing usefulness. 



178 





/ // /_ 



. c 



Y / fY', 






OLIVER P. HOETCXH". 



,-y- LIVER P. MORTON was born in Wayne County, Indiana, 
H~*'' v '/ 
tS*Jz August 4, 1823. His parents dying when he was quite 

young, he was placed under the care of a grandmother and 
two aunts, in the State of Ohio. He served for a while with his 
brother at the hatter's trade ; but this not being a congenial employ- 
ment, at the age of fourteen he entered the Wayne County Seminary. 
He is described by his preceptor as " a timid and rather verdant- 
looking youth, too shy to bear, with head erect, a master's look.'' 
After completing his preparatory studies, he entered Miami Univer- 
sity, at Oxford, Ohio. He displayed much talent as a student, and 
made great proficiency in his studies, and especially in forensic exer- 
cises. Leaving college without graduating, he returned to Indiana, 
and entered upon the study of law with Hon. John S. Newman. 
He was admitted to the bar in 1846, and, as a jurist and an advocate, 
soon took rank among the first lawyers of the State. 

In 1S52, he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court. Two years 
later, the Democratic party, of which he was a member, repealed the 
Missouri Compromise, and passed the Kansas-Nebraska bill. Mr. 
Morton, with many others who had been known as free-soil Demo- 
crats, abandoned his old party relations, and aided in forming the 
Republican party. 

In 1856, he was nominated by the Republicans as their candidate 
for Governor of Indiana. He made a thorough and vigorous can- 
vass of the State, in company with his Democratic competitor, Ashbel 
P. Willard. A party so powerful, championed by a leader so elo- 
quent and popular, could not be overcome in a single campaign. 
Mr. Morton lost the election by about five thousand votes ; but his 
speeches, delivered throughout the State, did much to build up and 
consolidate the Republican party in Indiana. 
179 



2 OLIVER P. MORTON. 

Anticipating the importance of the great political struggle of 1860, 
the Republicans of Indiana made an exceedingly strong ticket, with 
Henry S. Lane lor Governor, and Oliver P. Morton for Lieutenant 
Governor — both unsurpassed for eloquence and effectiveness in politi 
eal debate. The Republican State ticket was triumphantly elected 
in October, and, in November, Indiana stood in the unbroken col- 
umn of Northern States that elected Abraham Lincoln to the Presi- 
dency. 

On the 14th of January, 1801, Air. Morton, entering upon the 
office of Lieutenant-Governor, took his seat as President of the State 
Senate. He occupied this position but two days, when, in conse- 
quence of the election of Henry S. Lane to the Senate of the United 
States, he became Governor of Indiana. 

Never before had a Governor of the State been inaugurated amid 
circumstances so difficult and trying. The election of Mr. Lincoln 
to the presidency was used as a pretext for rebellion, which was 
already showing its formidable front in various portions of the South. 
The State of Indiana was divided on the question of the right of 
secession. Men were heard to say in the State Legislature, that they 
would rather take their muskets ami assist the Southern people to 
obtain their independence, than to support the Government. The 
Southern traitors believed that should the Administration pursue a 
coercive policy, Indiana would secede and join the Southern Con- 
federacy. To repress treason, to foster loyalty, and hold the entire 
State true to the Union, and to hurl its concentrated moral and phy- 
sical force against the rising rebellion, constituted the extraordinary 
work before the newly-inaugurated Governor. 

Convinced of the importance of prompt action in defence of the 
Government, he visited the President in person, and assured him that 
if be would adopt a vigorous policy, Indiana would support him. 
Soon after his visit to Washington, the bombardment of Fort 
Sumter inaugurated actual hostilities and produced the great upris- 
ing of the North. 

Upon receiving the President's proclamation, Governor Morton 
issued calls to every part of the State for men. Forty thousand 
180 



OLIVER P. MOETON. 3 

men, more than six times the number required, volunteered for the 
defence of the Union. In three days, six regiments, the quota of 
the State, were in readiness for service, fully armed and equipped. 
Twenty regiments were tendered in addition, and when they were 
not accepted by the Government, must of them were mustered into 
the State service, put in camp and drilled until the time came when 
the Government was glad to take them. 

No sooner were their first troops in the field than the Governor sent 
agents to look after their interests, to see that their necessities were 
supplied while in health, and that they were properly eared for when 
siek. 

To meet the extraordinary emergencies of the occasion, Governor 
Morton called an extra session of the Legislature. His message to 
this body, delivered April 25th, 1861, was a patriotic and eloquent 
presentation of the true relations of the States to the Federal Govern- 
ment, and the duty of Indiana to aid in crushing the rebellion. 

During the extra session of the General Assembly the labors of 
the Executive Department were augmented to an extent never 
before equalled in the history of the State. Great discernment and 
discretion were exercised by the Governor in the selection of men to 
aid in recruiting, organizing and equipping the regiments. He 
laid aside party prejudices, and, in dispensing favors, rather showed 
partiality to his former political foes than to his friends. Loyalty 
and capacity were the only qualifications for position which lie de- 
manded, and during the early stages of the war he appeared to look 
for these in the Democratic party. 

The doubtful attitude of the State of Kentucky gave additional 
anxiety and labor to the Governor of Indiana, Governor Magoffin, 
at heart a secessionist, had refused most positively to respond to the 
President's call for volunteers. While making professions of a desire 
to hold Kentucky in a neutral position, he was really rendering the 
rebels all the aid in his power. lie artfully laid his plans to induce 
Indiana, Ohio, and other Northern border States, to assume the char- 
acter of sovereign mediators between the Government and the 
seceded States. To his overtures Governor Morton promptly re- 
181 



4 OLIVER P. JIORTON. 

spondee!, " There is no ground in the Constitution, midway between 
the Government and a rebellious State, upon which another State 
can stand, holding both in check. A State must take her stand 
upon one side or the other; and I invoke the State of Kentucky, by 
all the sacred ties that bind us together, to take her stand with Indi- 
ana, promptly and efficiently, on the side of the Union." 

From this time until the close of Magoffin's administration, Gov- 
ernor Morton was practically the governor of Kentucky. He dis- 
patched numerous secret agents to watch the movements of Ken- 
tucky secessionists. Thus he was constantly advised in reference to 
the traitorous designs of Kentucky rebels and their Confederate 
allies. In view of the defenceless condition of the Indiana and Ohio 
border, he urged upon the President and the War Department the 
importance of gunboats and fortifications along the Ohio river. 

From the beginning of the difficulties in Kentucky he unremit- 
tingly pressed upon the attention of the Government the inn sssit v 
of taking decided steps toward the occupation of the State by the 
United States forces. 

On the 16th of September, 1SGL, Governor Morton learned, through 
one of his secret agents, that the rebel General Zollicoffer had 
marched his brigade through Cumberland Gap, into Kentucky. < hi 
thesame day General Buckner, who had for some time been sta- 
tioned at Bowling Green in command of a body of " neutral State 
Guards, "set out with his men for Louisville. General Rousseau had 
organized a brigade at Jeffersonville, Indiana, bnt out of respect for 
Kentucky's neutrality was ordered to St. Louis. Governor Morton, 
having been apprised of the movements of Zollicoffer and Buckner, 
had General Rousseau's marching orders countermanded. He was 
ordered to cross the Ohio into Kentucky; thus Louisville was saved 
from falling into the hands of the rebels, and the fatal charm of neu- 
trality was broken. 

Governor Morton withdrew his secret agents and appealed to 
the people of Indiana to render all possible aid in rescuing Ken- 
tucky from the hands of the secessionists. Many regiments 
responded to the call, and ere the lapse of many months Bowling 
182 



OLIVER P. MORTON. 5 

Green, a strongly fortified position, was occupied by a Federal force 
Zollicoffer was defeated and slain at Mill-spring, and the soil of 
Kentucky cleared of rebel troops. 

The important agency of Governor Morton in bringing about 
these results was universally acknowledged. The "Louisville Jour- 
nal " said of him, " He has been, emphatically, Kentucky's guardian 
spirit from the very commencement of the dangers that now darkly 
threaten her very existence. Kentucky and the whole country owe 
him a large debt of gratitude. Oh, that all the public functionaries 
of the country were as vigilant, as clear-sighted, as energetic, as 
fearless, as chivalric, as he." 

The wants of Indiana troops in Missouri, West Virginia, and 
the Department of the Potomac, received his constant attention, and 
his numerous efficient agents were actively employed in every camp 
where Indiana regiments were stationed. 

The reverses of the national arms had such a discouraging effect 
upon the country, that in most of the States the work of recruiting 
progressed slowly. Not so in Indiana. The faithfulness of Gov 
enor Morton in looking after his soldiers, and providing for theii 
families at home, inspired the people of Indiana with such a degree 
of confidence that tie volunteering spirit among them did not abate 
because of national disasters, and by the 11th of December, 1861, an 
aggregate of forty-four volunteer regiments from Indiana were in 
the service of the United States. 

The approach of the first winter of the war seemed likely to find 
large numbers of our troops almost destitute of comfortable clothing, 
owing to the misappropriation of supplies, by incompetent and un- 
principled quartermasters. Governor Morton sought to remedy this 
deficiency, so far as the Indiana troops were concerned, by taking the 
matter of supplying them with clothing into his own hands. Not- 
withstanding the obstructions thrown in his way, and the insults 
ottered him by thieving officials, by indefatigable energy, he carried 
his points, and had the satisfaction of being assured by his messen- 
gers that his soldiers would not suffer from lack of clothing amid the 
rigors of winter in the mountains of Western Virginia. 
183 



G OLIVER P. MORTON. 

Governor Morton's popularity among the soldiers, and his reputa- 
tion in other States, having excited the jealousy of certain ambitious 
politicians, they gave currency to vague charges of mismanagement 
in State military matters, of corruption in the appointment of officers 
and the awarding of contracts. In compliance with Governor Mor- 
ton's urgent request, a Congressional Investigating Committee visited 
Indianapolis, and made rigid inquiry into the management of mili- 
itary matters in Indiana. The published report of the proceedings 
of this committee not only exonerates him from all blame, but shows 
the greatest care on his part to prevent fraud and peculation. It 
was stated by this committee that, notwithstanding the Indiana troops 
had been better armed and equipped than those of any other west- 
ern State, the expense attending their outfit was less, in proportion to 
the number of men furnished, than that of any other State in the 
Union. 

Governor Morton steadily rose in the estimation of the President 
and the Cabinet, until his influence became greater in Washington 
than that of any other man in the country outside the Executive De- 
partments. Many times was his presence requested in Washington, 
and his counsel solicited in matters of the greatest moment to the 
Government. 

Before the close of the year L862, more than one hundred thou- 
sand men had enlisted from Indiana in the service of the United 
States. Most of these being Republicans, their absence greatly de- 
pleted the strength of the party at home. Mismanagement of officers 
and reverses in the field had cooled the ardor of many who had been 
supporters of the war. '1'hese causes operated to produce a detent 
of the Republican party in Indiana in the autumn of 1862, ami the 
election of Democratic State officers, and a. majority of the Legis- 
lature. Fortunately for the State. Governor Morton held over, hav- 
ing been elected for a term of torn- years, lie stood as the sole ob- 
stacle in the path of reckless men who desired to drag the State into 
alliance with the rebels. 

The Governor transmitted to the Legislature a. message in which he 
accurately set forth the condition of the State, and with calmness 
184 



OLIVER P. MORTON. 7 

and dignity made such suggestions as were appropriate to the emer- 
gencies of the State and Xation. The Legislature insultingly refused 
to accept tliis message, and by a joint resolution complimented, and 
virtually adopted, the message of Governor Seymour of New York. 

The Democratic majority in caucus drew up a hill designed to 
take all the military power of the State away from the Governor, 
and place it in the hands of four Democratic State officers. This bill 
was engrossed and only prevented from becoming a law by the with- 
drawal of the Republican members, leaving the Legislature without, 
a quorum. "When the Legislature was thus broken up, no appropria- 
tions had been made to defray the expenses of the State government 
for the next two years, and Governor Morton must either call the 
Legislature back at the risk of having the State involved in civil war, 
or borrow the money to cany on the State government. He deter- 
mined to take the latter course, and succeeded in raising nearly two 
million dollars, with which he paid the expenses of the State gov- 
ernment and the interest ou the State debt. The money was bor- 
rowed from loyal counties in the State, from railroad companies, 
banks, private persons, and from the house of Winslow, Lanier & 
Co., in New York. During these two years he acted as Auditor 
and Treasurer of State, kept the accounts in his own office, and dis- 
bursed the money upon his own checks. The next Legislature ex- 
amined his accounts, and adopted them without the slightest excep- 
tion, paid up all his borrowed money, and thus relieved him of the 
great responsibilities he had incurred. 

The most persistent and dangerous opposition to Governor Mor- 
ton's administration was a secret association, popularly known as 
" Knights of the Golden Circle." It had a lodgement in every si • 
tion of the State, but became most numerous in those places where the 
people, not having frequent access to the mediums of public intelli- 
gence, became readily the dupes of designing men. The ultimate ex- 
posure of this organization showed that it numbered over SO, 000 men, 
bound together by the most solemn oaths, thoroughly drilled ami 
ready to obey the call of their masters at any time. 

It was the plan and purpose of the conspirators to rise and seize 
185 



8 OLIVER P. 310 RTON. 

the government arsenals, release rebel prisoners at various points in 
the North, furnish them with arms, and after assassinating State and 
United States officers, to take forcible possession of the government. 

To ferret out and defeat the schemes of these conspirators was a 
work of no ordinary magnitude, but it was fully accomplished. 
The Governor employed secret detectives, through whose activity and 
tact lie obtained an inside view of almost every lodge within the State. 
He was fully informed of all their plans, their financial resources, and 
their strength. Large quantities of arms, consigned to the conspira- 
tors, were seized and confiscated. Several of the chiefs of the con- 
spiracy were arraigned, tried, convicted of treason and punished. 
The opportune discovery and exposure of this plot prevented a ter- 
rible outbreak and massacre on the soil of Indiana, and rescued the 
State from infamy and ruin. 

Tn the fall of 1864, Governor Morton was re-elected by a majority 
of 22, 000 votes. lb- continued with energy and ardor to prosecute 
the wrk which for four years had occupied his time and attention. 
Ho continued to raise soldiers, by volunteering and by draft, until 
the last call was more than met. 

lb' passed the last year of the war in unceasing activity. At 
Washington, in council with the President ; at the front, beholding the 
brave achievements of his soldiers, moving in person through the hos- 
pitals to ascertain the wants of tin • sick and wounded, and directing the 
operations of his numerous agents; at home, superintending sanitary 
movements, appointing extra surgeons and sending them to the held, 
projecting additional measures for the relief of dependent women and 
children, and attending personally to all the details of the business of 
his office — his labors were unsurpassed by those of any man in the 
civil or military service of the country. 

The sudden collapse of the rebellion, and the return of the surviv - 
ing heroes of the war, varied, but did not diminish, the labors of the 
Governor of Indiana. He made the amplest arrangements for the 
reception and entertainment of the Indiana volunteers at the State 
capital. Every regiment was received and welcomed by him in 
person. He gave special attention to the pay department, and saw 
186 



OLIVER P. MORTON. 9 

that no unnecessary delay detained the veterans from their homes 
and families. 

Finally, the war being ended, and the soldiers dismissed to their 
homes, the long excitement ended, and the day of relaxation came. 
For five years his powers of mind and body were taxed to the ut- 
most. The immense weight of his official responsibilities, the em- 
barrassments which beset him, the gigantic difficulties he had over- 
come, had, apparently, made no inroads upon his frame. The cessa- 
tion of labor and excitement developed the evil results of over-work. 
In the summer of 1SC5 he was attached with partial paralysis. The 
efforts of physicians to afford relief were fruitless, and a change of 
scene and climate was advised as the only means of obtaining relief. 
Accordingly, he devolved his official duties upon the Lieutenant 
Governor, and sailed for Europe. After an absence of several months 
he returned, partially relieved, and resumed his official duties. 

In January, 18G7, he was elected to the United States Senate, 
and, resigning the Governorship, took his seat on the 4th of March, 
for the term ending in 1S73. In the Fortieth Congress he took a 
bold and decided stand against the policy of President Johnson. 
His great speech of January 24, 1SG8, was one of the most memo- 
rable and effective ever delivered in the United States Senate. 
Describing this effort, Mr. John W. Forney, in a letter to the 
" Philadelphia Press," wrote : 

" The scene this afternoon reminded me of the time when "Web- 
ster and Clay spoke to eager and applauding galleries, and of the 
later struggles, after the war began, when Breckenridge, thundering 
treason from his seat, was met and mastered by the martyred Ba- 
ker. . . . Governor Morton's speech surprised even those who knew 
his consummate abilities. Speaking seated in his Senatorial chair, 
on account of his extreme debility, his physical weakness added to 
the interest of his argument. I remember how long, long ago, 
George MThvffie, of Mississippi, habitually pronounced his dazzling 
rhetoric seated. But in how different a cause the Senator from 
Indiana is engaged ! M'Duffie spoke as a brilliant partisan ; Mor- 
ton almost as an inspired patriot. I will not attempt to give you 
187 



10 



OLIVER P. MORTON. 



a glimpse of his tremendous refutation of Democratic falsehoods, or 
his overwhelming vindication of the Republican Congress. . . .After 
he concluded he left the chamber much exhausted, amid the admi- 
ration of his friends and the respect of his enemies. No statesman 
who listened to him but must have been convinced that he had 
heard a master— master not only in intellect but in heart— a pro- 
found thinker and a resistless logician — but more than these, a sin- 
cere and fervent lover of his country and all the oppressed races of 
men." 

During the Forty-first Congress Mr. Morton was Chairman of 
the Committee on Manufactures and a member of the Committees 
on Foreign Relations and Military Affairs. lie took a very active 
part in the work of legislation, occupying a prominent position be- 
fore the country as one of the leaders of the Republican party and 
an able supporter of the administration of President Grant. He 
sustained an able part in discussions upon financial questions. 
Pending the Currency bill he opposed the proposition to increase 
the National banking currency, and retain an amount of United 
States notes equal to the addition proposed to the bank cireulation-- 
regarding this as non-compliance with a pledge recently given in the 
"Act to strengthen the public credit," that provision should be 
made at the earliest practicable period for the redemption of the 
United States notes in coin. 

On the 9th of April, 18(19, pending the bill in relation to Vir- 
ginia, Mississippi, and Texas, Mr. Morton submitted as an amend- 
ment an additional section, providing that before these States 
should be admitted to representation in Congress they should ratify 
the proposed Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution. lie sus- 
tained this proposition by a masterly argument before the Senate. 
Limited space will not allow even an allusion to all the speeches 
of this able statesman and active Senator. They covered the 
whole ground of Reconstruction. He strove with all his energy 
and ability to secure stringent legislation that would forever pre- 
vent the recurrence of rebellion. 

He introduced a resolution providing for the appointment of a 
188 



OLIVER P. MORTON. H 

Commission to make investigations respecting San Domingo, pend- 
ing which his defense of the measure against the attacks of Mr. 
Sumner evinced his masterly ability, and completely vindicated 
the fairness, integrity, and patriotism of those who favored the 
proposed investigation. 

In 1ST0 Mr. Morton was tendered by President Grant the mis- 
sion to England. This he declined for important reasons, which he 
gave in a letter to the President, who replied, "I fully concur with 
you in all the reasons which you give for the course which you find 
it your duty to pursue in the matter, but regret that the country 
is not to have your valuable services at the English court at this 
important juncture." 

During the winter of 1871-2 he was Chairman of the Commit- 
tee on Privileges and Elections, which had charge of many ques- 
tions of primary importance, notably the difference between the 
two Houses as to their respective jurisdiction in bills raising reve- 
nue, and the election case of Abbott from North Carolina, where 
he showed a judicial fairness that could not be moved by his party 
attachments. His most brilliant intellectual achievements were in 
the great debate on the French Arms and New York Custom- 
House resolutions, in which he defended Grant's administration 
against Mr. Schurz, Mr. Trumbull, and Mr. Sumner, with a bold- 
ness and skill in the turns of debate, a strength of reasoning and 
readiness in sudden attack or defense, that proved him a debater 
of the first rank. 

In the important political campaign of 1872 the defeat of Mr. 
Morton as a candidate for re-election to the Senate was a darling 
purpose of the Democrats and Liberals, and for this they made a 
closer alliance in Indiana, under the lead of Mr. Hendricks, than 
was effected in any other State. Largely through the untiring 
labors of Mr. Morton, the Republicans elected a majority of the 
Legislature and the State officers in October, thus virtually decid- 
ing the Presidential election in November. As a result, Mr. 
Morton was re-elected to the United States Senate for a term. 
In the succeeding session the political tangle in Lonisiana was 
189 



12 OLIVER P. MORTON. 

referred to the Committee on Privileges and Elections, of which he 
was chairman. After a laborious examination, the widely differing 
opinions of the committee were given in four separate reports, Mr. 
Morton standing alone in his view of the question. A long and 
exciting debate followed, resulting in the substantial adoption of 
the course advocated by him. 

The charges of bribery against Mr. Caldwell, a Senator from 
Kansas, were referred to the same committee. A fair, thorough, 
unshrinking investigation, conducted with open doors, where wit- 
nesses found avoidance impossible and perjury unsafe, and where 
the people could see that perfect justice was shown, ended in a 
report adverse to Mr. Caldwell. Mr. Morton led the debate in the 
Senate upon this case, which took place at the extra session after 
the fourth of March, t873. It was "lie of the healthiest in tone 
and most beneficial in effect that ever took place in that body. 
The country was so roused by it to a general expression of abhor- 
rence through the press, that the accused Senator, whoso friends 
had at first counted upon an easy victory in the Senate, was now 
driven by the certainty of expulsion to resign. 

In January, 1873, Mr. Morton delivered a speech on the neces- 
sity of a reform in ourmodeof electing a President which attracted 
the atteution of thoughtful men every- where; and the Senate was 
so impressed with the subject that the Committee on Privileges 
and Elections was specially charged with the investigation of the 
whole system during the ensuing vacation. 

In the Senate he has not failed to meet the high expectations of 
the country. Though somewhat disabled by disease, he has per- 
formed all the work of a statesman and a Senator. His speeches, 
heard by crowded galleries and an attentive Senate, have fallen 
with marked effect upon the country. Though often necessitated 
to speak in a sitting posture, he retains the commanding presence 
and the impressive delivery essential to the highest success in ora- 
tory. Unsurpassed in executive ability, as proven by a splendid 
career in another field, he has shown himself the peer of the great- 
est statesmen in legislative talent. 
19Q 



^ 







r pu 



OEEIS S. FEEEY. 



fRRIS S. FERRY was born at Bethel, Fairfield County, 
Connecticut, August 15, 1823. He graduated with honor 
at Yale College in 1844. He subsequently studied law and 
commenced practice at Norwalk, in Connecticut, where he has ever 
since resided. He pursued his profession with diligence, and rose 
rapidly at the bar. 

In politics, Mr. Ferry was of Whig antecedents, and voted and 
worked with that party ; meanwhile he was far in advance of it in lib- 
eral and anti-slavery tendencies. Though active and widely popular, 
he avoided public office until he was nominated and elected to the 
State Senate in 1855. 

When he entered that body, the Nebraska bill and debate had con- 
vulsed Congress, and was agitating the nation to the centre. He 
was made chairman of the Committee on Federal Relations, which, 
in Connecticut, is a joint committee of both Houses. He drew up 
the report and resolutions of the Committee, and advocated them with 
earnestness. They were adopted, and became the substance of the 
first platform of the Republican party in the State of Connecticut. 
On that platform he was re-elected in 1S56. He was made chairman 
of the same committee in the Legislature, and was again author of 
resolutions which formed the basis of the Republican platform in the 
succeeding election. 

In 1855 a proposition was made in the General Assembly to 
submit to the people an amendment to the State Constitution, con- 
ferring suffrage on colored men. Mr. Ferry knew well that many 
of hi8 Whig supporters were strenuously opposed to the amendment, 
191 



o ORRIS S. FERRY. 

but convinced that it was right, he gave it his vote, and when it was 
submitted, advocated it publicly. It was defeated by an overwhelm- 
ing majority. The conscientious action of Mr. Ferry nearly cost him 
his election in 1866, reducing his heavy majority of the previous year 
to one hundred and twenty. The old line Whigs actually mourned 
over what they deemed the mistake of a favorite, and voted sadly 
against him. Some of these very men lived to confess their error, 
and openly commend the foresight and courage of the action they 
had condemned. 

Mr. Ferry, during 1855 and 1856, was chairman of the Judiciary 
Committee, which is, in Connecticut, a joint committee of both 
Houses. For years, leading men had vainly tried to secure a revision 
of the Judiciary system and laws of the State. Mr. Ferry and the 
committee with cheerful and persistent energy performed the arduous 
and much-needed labor, overcame the bitter opposition to the change, 
and inaugurated a system which stills gives universal satisfaction. 

In 1S56 Mr. Ferry was chosen attorney for the State, which posi- 
tion he filled until 1S59, winning well-deserved reputation for ability, 
integrity and faithfulness. 

In 1859 he was nominated for Congress by the Republican party, 
in a doubtful district. He had emerged into public life with the 
Republican party ; bore a leading part in its early struggles, ami was 
fired with all the zeal and vigor of its youth. lie made a personal 
canvass after the "Western style, a thing not before done in Connecti- 
cut. He possesses remarkable oratorical powers; he relates no 
anecdotes, illustrates rarely from the classics, enlivens his speeches 
only with an occasional pungent thrust, but his power is higher than 
this. To a pure, compact, direct, luminous style he adds the magnetic 
power of a deep and sincere heart, glowing with the ardor of honest 
and profound convictions. He spoke with lofty and fervid elocpience 
in every town and village. The young men rallied to his support, 
and with great enthusiasm triumphantly elected him. 

Mr. Ferry was an active and unflinching Republican in the stormy 
sessions of the Thirty-sixth Congress. He was a member of the 
192 



ORRIS S. FERRY. 3 

famous committee of thirty-three "upon the state of the Union." 
After careful and searching consideration, he reluctantly concluded 
that adjustment of our national difficulties by legislation was impos- 
sible. He made, on the 24th of February, an earnest speech, declar- 
ing that there was " no course left but for the government to vindi- 
cate its dignity by an exhibition of its strength." The speech was 
so savagely criticised by Democrats, and disapproved by hesitating 
Republicans, as to compass the defeat of Mr. Ferry. The election 
took place early in April, just in the period of apprehension and 
anxiety to avoid collision, which preceded the capture of Sumter. 
After a gallant campaign, Mr. Ferry was beaten by seventeen votes. 
Had the election taken place four weeks later, he would have been 
re-elected by thousands on the merits of his bold, manly and truthful 
speech. 

After his defeat he returned to Washington, when the capitol was 
threatened. Before troops could arrive from the North, he enrolled 
himself in the Cassius M. Clay Guard, and patrolled Washington 
during those days and nights of alarm, he did not wish to enter 
the three months' service, but as soon as three years' troops were called 
for, he volunteered. He was chosen colonel of the 5th Regiment, 
the second of three years' troops from Connecticut, and quickly 
recruited it from a skeleton to a full regiment of superior men. He 
was early promoted to brigadier-general, and served with unflagging 
fidelity wherever duty called through the entire war, resigning June 
15th, 1805. 

He immediately applied himself with new zest and characteristic 
diligence to the law, his favorite pursuit, and rapidly regained his 
extensive practice. In the same year the Legislature again sub- 
mitted the colored suffrage amendment to the people. The influence 
of Andrew Johnson was brought to bear against it. Mr. Ferry could 
not prevail on the State Republican Committee to make an active 
canvass, and he resolutely took the stump alone for it. lie wrote a 
series of articles, which were subsequently collected by Mr. Stearns, 
of Boston, published and widely distributed. The amendment was 
193 



4 



ORRIS S. FERRY. 



defeated, but by a majority far less than in 185.'). The indifferent 
Republicans of 1865 have often since wished that they had seconded 

the earnest endeavor of Mr. Ferry. 

In 1866 he was elected to the Senate of the United States to suc- 
ceed Hon. Lafayette S. Foster, and took his seat at the beginning 
of the Fortieth Congress, March 4, 1867. In May, 1872, the Re- 
publican caucus of the Connecticut Legislature, looking to the elec- 
tion of a Senator for the ensuing term, nominated General Joseph 
B. Hawley, who received 78 votes over Mr. Ferry, who received 
12 votes. In the election which followed the Democrats went in a 
body for Mr. Ferry, while 17 Republicans voted for him, making 
the vote on joint ballot 133 for Ferry and 125 for Ilawley ; thus the 
former was re-elected. 

A newspaper correspondent, writing from near the home of Mr. 
Ferry, in explanation of this election, maintained that it was not a 
triumph of the " New Movement,'' or combination of Democrats 
and Liberals over the Administration Republicans, adding, " It may 
be true that Senator Ferry's political principles and record upon 
amnesty, local government, Santo Domingo, and general reform 
questions, are in harmony with the Cincinnati platform ; but it is 
not for these alone, or primarily, that his Republican friends stood 
by him so nobly. They honor him as a self-poised, self-possessed, 
independent, candid man. They believed him fairly and honorably 
entitled to another term, and that it is far better to retain a Senator 
of large experience and broad statesmanship." 

Mr. Ferry took his seat for his second term in the Senate of the 
United States, March 4, 1873. As a Senator he is rigidly faithful 
to every duty, vigorously studious in law and political science, im- 
partial in investigation, quick in perception, prompt, fearless, inde- 
pendent, and incorruptible in action. Caring far more to be right 
than to be popular, he is both esteemed and honored. He is genial 
and brilliant in social qualities, pure and affectionate in domestic 
life, sincere and devout in religious character. 

194 




. - <£> a/- ehs*^£-^-~ sA 






FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUTSEK 



^EEDEEICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN was bora in Mill- 




stone, Somerset County, New Jersey, August 4, 1817, and 
is the son of Frederick Frelinghuysen, who died quite 
young, but not until he had developed an admirable char- 
acter, had gained distinction for erudition and eloquence at the 
bar, and had acquired great popularity. 

On his father's death he became the adopted son of Theodore 
Frelinghuysen. He was graduated at Rutgers College in 1836, 
and was admitted to the bar in 1839. He was soon engaged in a 
general and lucrative practice throughout the State. He took au 
active part in all matters of public interest, both benevolent and 
political, and was frequently called upon to address the people. 
At the request of the Eepublican members of the Legislature in 
18G0 he accepted the appointment tendered him as a member of 
the Peace Congress which met at Washington, where he was 
laborious in his efforts to avert the war which he clearly saw im- 
pending, and his speeches in that convention attracted much 
attention. 

In 1SC1 he received from the Governor of New Jersey the nom- 
ination for Chief Justice of the State, which failed of confirmation, 
the Legislature being Democratic, and on the adjournment thereof 
the olfice was left vacant. 

In the same year he was appointed Attorney General of the 
State of New Jersey, in which position during the war he gave 
almost his entire time and energy in aiding the State to place her 
troops promptly and efficiently in the field, and in keeping the 
public sentiment up to a proper appreciation of the importance of 
the duty that the crisis involved. 

195. 



2 FREDERICK T. FRELINGHUYSEN. 

In 1SGG lie was reappointed Attorney General, and in the same 
year was temporarily appointed United States Senator to fill the 
vacancy occasioned by the death of the Hon. William "Wright. 

In 18G7 he was elected by the Legislature of the State to fill the 
term in the United States Senate which ended in 18G9. lie 
was then appointed one of the Committee on the Judiciary, as a 
member of which, as well as of a Select Committee, he took a prom- 
inent part in measures for the reconstruction of the States then 
recently in rebellion, which measures, as well as those for the 
relief of the South, he fully discussed in the Senate. He was also 
one of the Committee on Claims, and as such took an active part 
in debate as to the proper limit of the liability of the Government 
for claims growing out of the war. He was also a member of the 
Committee on Naval Affairs. 

Of all the Senators who sat as judges during the impeachment 
trial none gave the case more careful and candid attention than 
Mr. Frelinghuysen. nis opinion, pronounced at the conclusion of 
the trial, was an elaborate and able paper, wherein he maintained 
that Mr. Johnson, having manifested " willful, persistent, and 
defiant disregard of law," was guilty of a high misdemeanor re- 
quiring his removal from office. He maintained that " to suffer 
the Executive successfully to assert the right to adjudicate on the 
validity of laws claimed to be inferentially, though not in terms, 
contrary to the Constitution, and to execute such as he approves 
and violate such as he condemns, would be to permit the Govern- 
ment to be destroyed." 

In 1SC9, New Jersey having a Democratic Legislature, Hon. 
John P. Stockton was elected his successor, and Mr. Freling- 
huysen again returned to the practice of the law. 

In the summer of 1870 he was nominated by the President, and 
confirmed by the Senate, to succeed Mr. Motley as minister to En- 
gland, which appointment he declined. In the fall of 1870, the 
State being Republican, he was again elected United States Sen- 
ator to succeed Hon. A. G. Cattell, who had declined a re-election, 
and took his seat March 4, 1871. 

196 




I 



*.V/r ax^ 



- 



THOMAS W. TIPTON. 



/j|HOMAS "W. TIPTON was born near Cadiz, Ohio, August 5, 
! ' 1817. He was a student at Allegheny College, Meadville, 
$> and graduated at Madison College, Pennsylvania, in 1840. 
He was admitted to the bar in 1844, and was elected a member of 
the Ohio Legislature in 1845. He was at the head of a division 
in the General Laud Office during Mr. Fillmore's administration, 
aud returned to the practice of law in Ohio, in 1853. lie received 
license as a Methodist preacher in 1856, but preferring the democ- 
racy of Congregational church government to the Episcopacy, he 
changed the latter for the former. He removed to Nebraska in 
1858, and was soon after elected to a constitutional convention. 
He was a member of the Territorial Senate in 1860. He was 
elected Chaplain of the 1st Nebraska regiment in July, 1861, aud 
appointed Assessor of Internal Revenue for Nebraska in 1866. 
He was elected a United States Senator in 1867, and at the end 
of two years was re-elected for a term of six years. 

Mr. Tipton was a member of the old Whig party, and gave a 
devoted and enthusiastic support to Clay, Taylor, Scott, aud 
Fremont for the Presidency. He became a Republican when 
Salmon P. Chase was elected Governor of Ohio. Being in a 
Territory when Mr. Lincoln was twice elected, he was prevented 
voting for him, but canvassed for General Grant in 1868, and for 
Mr. Greeley in 1872. 

That Senator Tipton possesses an individuality of his own, all 
understand who share his intimate acquaintance. From a volume 
of " Pen Sketches of Nebraskians," we copy the following : " Iu 
all matters of State, as well as individual interest, he thinks for 
himself, and acts promptly, independent of all personal cousidera- 
197 



2 THOMAS W. TIPTON. 

tions. Right, truth, justice, and mauhood are the chief attributes 
of his character. "When he once forms an opinion he is as firm 
as the rock of Gibraltar. He is in appearance reserved, with a 
tinge of moroseness resting on his brow, but touch his heart, 
and a well-spring of social greeting flows forth as from a protean 
fountain. He is a great lover of the sublime in nature, is moved 
with sympathy for poverty and distress, is generous with hie 
means, so much so, that had he an income of many thousands he 
would die a poor man. He keeps his own counsels, and works 
by the model of an upright life." 

In every position in life, and in discharge of every public trust 
devolved upon him, his character for fidelity has never been 
questioned. He knows no precedent, respects no custom, and 
follows no direction that does not come to him all over radiant 
with the evidences of propriety, necessity, and common sense. 

Of his manner as a public speaker, one of the most popular 
correspondents of the day has said, "This man is by far the keenest 
and boldest humorist of the Senate. He is a ready debater, utter- 
ing sentences as crisp and sparkling as the ablest man about. 
Always timely ; very severe ; and yet his keenest thrusts are 
marked by an indescribable grimness of humor, which makes 
everybody, but the particular object, delighted. He always man- 
ages to say in full what other Congressmen merely hinted at, and 
forebore. His humor is subordinate, and subservient to his 
boldness. He has demonstrated confidence, coolness, power of 
repartee, and superb aggressiveness. Although not cautious by 
temperament, he never lays himself open to a bad thrust." 
198 



THOMAS J". ROBERTSON". 




gjHOMAS J. EOBEETSON was born in Fairfield County, 
South Carolina, August 3, 1S23. His father, John Eob- 
Sp^ ertson, was a wealthy planter who is still living, honored 
in having served the country as a volunteer in the war of 1812. 

The subject of this sketch pursued his preparatory studies at Mount 
Zion Academy in his native district, and graduated at South Carolina 
College, Columbia, in December, 1SA3. He entered upon the study 
of medicine, but soon found that this was not congenial to his tastes 
and inclinations, which from the associations of his early life were 
drawn towards agricultural pursuits. He engaged in planting, at 
the same time giving attention to railroad enterprises — the most 
efficient aids for the development of the agricultural interests of the 
country. 

At the breaking out of the rebellion he did not join the multitude 
of Southern people who took arms against the United States, but 
6tood forth a remarkable exception among men of his class in loyalty 
to the Union. He remained during the entire war an outspoken 
Union man, and never in any way compromised his position as a 
loyal citizen of the United States. He was a member of the State 
Constitutional Convention which met under the Eeconstruction Acts. 
At the first meeting of the General Assembly, under the new Con 
etitution, he was elected a Senator from South Carolina in the Con- 
gress of the United States by a vote almost unanimous, and took his 
seat July 22, 1868. He was placed on the Committees on Manufac- 
tures and Claims, and was made chairman of the Select Committee 
on the Eemoval of Political Disabilities. 
199 



2 TIIOMAS J. ROBERTSON. 

Mr. Robertson was re-elected to the Senate for the term of six 
years from March 4, 1871. In the Forty-second and Forty-third 
Conoresses he served as Chairman of the Committee on Manufact- 
ures and a member of the Committee on Agriculture. As a 
Southern man who preserved his allegiance to the United States 
during the Rebellion, he was prepared to place the responsibility 
of the war where it belonged, as he did in one of his reports as 
Chairman of the Select Committee on the Removal of Political 
Disabilities, in which he said : " The leaders were responsible for 
that action. The people were not suffered to think and act for 
themselves. They were fooled by their leaders, and drawn into 
the war, and therefore I do not hold them responsible." 

Mr. Robertson favored the granting of alternate sections of the 
public lands in the Territories to aid in building railroads where the 
country was undeveloped, but he was unwilling " to go into the 
Territories and give lands there to build railroads in the States." 
He is neither frequent, nor voluminous in his speeches before the 
Senate. In a direct and business-like way he gives expression to 
his views, and is always tolerant of those who differ with him in 
opinion. 

200 





,^<^Z^<z^> 






GEORGE E. SPENCER. 



'EORGE E. SPENCER was born in the town of Champion, 
Jefferson County, New York, November 1, 1S36, the young- 
est of four sons of the late Doctor Gordon P. Spencer, of 
Watertown, New York, who was a surgeon in the United States 
Army during the war of 1812. Doctor Spencer was born in Salis- 
bury, Connecticut, from which State the Spencer family emigrated 
to New York, prominent among them being the Hon. John C. Spen- 
cer, and Ambrose Spencer, names familiar to the country in the 
record of statesmen and lawyers. 

The subject of this sketch, after obtaining a liberal education at 
Montreal College, Canada, returned to his home in Watertown, New 
Ycik, and entered upon the study of the law. But he was impa- 
tient of home restraints, and, having imbibed in early youth a long- 
ing for adventure, determined upon emigrating to the far west. He 
located in the State of Iowa, was admitted to the bar in 1857, and, 
entering actively the arena of politics as a Republican, was chosen 
secretary of the Iowa State Senate at its session of 1S57-5S. 

At the breaking-out of the rebellion, Mr. Spencer was pioneering 
further westward, engaged in prospecting the mineral resources of 
Colorado and adjacent territory, a true type of the restless but deter- 
mined spirit of American adventure, which has discovered and opened 
up the wealth of gold and silver that has enriched the nation and 
populated the wilderness. He entered the army of the Union as 
captain and assistant adjutant-general of volunteers, and served 
with distinction as chief of staff to Major-Gen. Grenville M. Dodge 
until 1863, when he recruited and raised the 1st Regiment of Ala- 
bama cavalry, composed of the loyal mountaineers of that State, and, 
as colonel, commanded a brigade of cavalry on Sherman's famous 
201 



2 GEORGE E. SPENCER. 

" March to the Sea." He was brevetted a brigadier-general for gal- 
lantry on the held, and, after the war, resumed the practice of the 
law at Decatur, Alabama, in the neighborhood of the homes of his 
old comrades of the First Alabama Cavalry. 

Mr. Spencer took a prominent part in the reconstruction of Ala- 
bama and was appointed a register in bankruptcy by Chief-Justice 
Chase in May 1867. In the following year he was elected to the 
United States Senate as a Republican, and took his seat July 25, 
18G8. He entered upon the duties of hissecond term in the Senate 
on the 4th of March, 1873. He has served on several important 
committees: Commerce, Pensions, the District of Columbia, Mili- 
tary Affairs, the Select Committee on the Levees of the Mississippi 
River, and the Joint Select Committee on Alleged Outrages in the 
Southern States. 

Although not a frequent speaker, Mr. Spencer is fearless in 
maintaining his opinion on the floor of the Senate. The following 
brief illustration of his style is from his speech on the enforcement 
of the Fifteenth Amendment; 

" The condition of the South, political and social, is truly de- 
plorable. To be a Republican, an advocate of liberty, and a 
supporter of the Administration and its policy, is a heinous crime. 
It sets a mark upon the brow and a price upon the head. There 
is no such thing in the South to-day as freedom of speech, freedom 
of thought, and freedom of action, except it be in those rare locali- 
ties where the inhabitants chance to be all loyal." 

He has faithfully maintained the interests of the colored people 
of the South, as appears from the following passage in his speech 
in the Senate during the discussion of the labor question and the 
eight-hour system : " Their toil is now their own, consecrated to 
them by the best blood of free America ; and it is a matter of 
deep concern to the country and to myself that they shall receive 
the benefits of that freedom, not only in their labor, but in theii 
education ; as well in books as in their new relations as citizens of 
the Republic." 

202 





t / 









ADELBEET AMES. 




>DELBERT AMES was born at Rockland, Maine, October 
31, 1835. He received an academic education in his 
"£i|0fI o native State, and was admitted to the United States 
Military Academy as a cadet July 1, 1856. He gradu- 
ated, ranking fifth in his class, May 6, 1S61, an opportune moment, 
for, the War of the Rebellion having just broken out, there was a 
loud and urgent call from the country for men of military education 
for her service. Mr. Ames immediately entered upon active duty 
as 2d Lieutenant of the Second Artillery. His first duty was drill- 
ing volunteers in Washington, in which he was employed until 
July, when he participated in the memorable Manassas campaign. 
In the battle of Bull Run, July 21, 1861, he was severely wounded, 
and was breveted Major for his gallant and meritorious services. 
He was disabled by his wounds until September, when he resumed 
active duty and served in the defenses of Washington until March, 
18C2. He then participated in the Virginia Peninsular campaign, 
and was engaged in the siege of Yorktown, the battle of Gaines' 
Mill, and the battle of Malvern Hill, where his gallant conduct 
earned promotion to the brevet rank of Lieutenant-Colonel. 

He was appointed Colonel of the 20th Regiment of Maine Volun- 
teers, August 29, 1862, and a few days later was with his command 
in the battle of Antietam. He then took part in the Rappahannock 
campaign, engaging in the battle of Fredericksburg, December 13, 
1862. He was in the battle of Chancellorsville, May 2, 1863, acting 
as Aid-de-camp to General Meade. Having been promoted to the 
rank of Brigadier- General of Volunteers, he command a brigade at 
the battle of Beverly Ford, May 20, 1863. He fought in the battle 
of Gettysburgh, July 1, 2, and 3, 1863, and engaged in the pursuit 
203 



2 ADELBERT AMES. 

of the enemy to "Warren ton, Virginia. For his gallantry in the 
battle of Gettysburg he was breveted Colonel in the regular army. 
From August, 1863, to the following April, he engaged in the opera- 
tions of the Department of the South. 

In command of a brigade or division of the ISth Army Corps he 
aided in the operations before Petersburg, engaging in the action of 
"Whitehall Junction, May 7, 1864, and the battle of Cold Harbor, 
June 1, 1864. Subsequently, in command of a division of the 10th 
Army Corps, he engaged in the actions of Darbytown Road. He 
afterward joined in the first and second expeditions against Fort 
Fisher, participating in the assault and capture of that stronghold, 
January 15, 1865. For his distinguished services on this occasion 
he was breveted Major-General of Volunteers. He was mustered 
out of the Volunteer service April 30, 1866. 

In consideration of gallant and meritorious services in the field 
during the Rebellion he was breveted Major-General in the regular 
army. Under the Reconstruction Act he was appointed Provisional 
Governor of Mississippi. June 15, 1S68, and was p pointed to the 
command of the Fourth Military District, Department of Missis- 
sippi, March 17, 1869. He was elected United States Senator 
from Mississippi, January 18, 1870. His credentials having been 
presented to the Senate, were referred to the Committee on the 
Judiciary, who reported that General Ames was not entitled to the 
seat in the Senate to which he had been appointed, Mr. Rice alone 
of the Committee dissenting from this conclusion. An exhaustive 
and able debate ensued, running through several days, in which was 
discussed the meaning of the constitutional requirement that a man 
to be a Senator must be an " inhabitant of that State for which he 
shall be chosen," and whether it was in the power of a person in 
the military service to choose his place of residence. Finally, April 
1, 1870, the Senate disagreed to the report of the Judiciary Com- 
mittee by a vote of forty to twelve, and Mr. Ames was immediately 
sworn in as a Senator of the United States. Before the expira- 
tion of his term of service in the Senate, Mr. Ames resigned to 
accept the office of Governor of Mississippi. 
204 



THOMAS F. BATAED, 




mOMAS FRANCIS BAYAED was born in Wilming- 
ton, Delaware, October 28, 1828. His father, Hon. 
James A. Bayard, and his grandfather, of the same name, 
were both Senators of the United States — the latter hav- 
ing also been Minister to France, and one of the Commissioners who 
negotiated the Treaty of Ghent. His great grandfather, Richard 
Bassett, was a delegate to the Convention which formed the Fed- 
eral Constitution, and was a Senator in Congress from Delaware. 

The subject of this sketch was chiefly educated at the Flushing 
School, established by Rev. Dr. F. L. Hawks. His early training 
was for mercantile life, but his tastes and talents were for the bar. 
He studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1851. With the 
exception of two years, spent in Philadelphia, he has ever since 
practiced in his native city. In 1S53 he was appointed United 
States District Attorney for Delaware, but resigned in the follow- 
ing year for the purpose of devoting himself to his own private and 
professional business. 

He was elected to the United States Senate as a Democrat to 
succeed his father, and took his seat in that body March 4, 1869. 
He has served on the Committee on Finance, the Committee on 
Privileges and Elections, and the Committee on the Revision of 
the Laws of the United States. From his entrance into the Senate 
Mi - . Bayard has borne a prominent and able part in debate. In 
his speech on the Civil Tenure Act he took a decided stand against 
the suspension of the law, and in favor of its absolute repeal, be- 
lieving it to be uncalled for and without constitutional warrant. 
In his remarks upon the bill authorizing the submission to the 
people of the Constitutions of Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas, Mr. 
205 



2 THOMAS F. BAYARD. 

Bayard declared himself as Laving been opposed to the " series of 
measures called reconstruction, believing them to be in direct, 
open, and flagrant violation of the spirit and the letter of the fun- 
damental law of this country." He excepted to the bill for en- 
forcing the Fifteenth Amendment, as grasping at the whole control 
of elections, and intended not to prevent discrimination between 
races, but to discriminate directly against the white race and in 
favor of the black. He also opposed the bill for abolishing the 
Franking Privilege, and animadverted with severity upon the in- 
fluence of the Post-Office Department in procuring the multitude 
of petitions flowing in upon Congress for this object. 

He is one of the ablest defenders of Democratic principles and 
policy on the floor of the Senate. He earnestly opposed the union 
of the Democratic party with the Liberal Republican movement 
in the political campaign of 1872. lie acquiesced in the decision 
of the National Convention ; but ill health, which necessitated a 
trip to Europe, prevented him from taking an active part in the 
campaign. From family associations, study, and observation, he 
has been well furnished for a successful career as a politician and 
statesman. His speeches manifest the skillful lawyer and the 
accomplished rhetorician. Without the voice necessary to success- 
ful oratory in noisy assemblies, yet his well-considered matter and 
graceful manner render him an agreeable and successful debater in 
the hall of the Senate. 

206 



ARTHUE I. BOREMAK 



^ETHUE IXGIIRAM BOEEMAN was born in Waynes- 




burg, Pennsylvania} July 24, 1823. His grandfather 
was bora in London, and, coming to this country before 
the Revolutionary War, became a pay-master in the 
Continental army, and subsequently settling at AVaynesburg, he 
held all the various clerk's offices for the county many years. 
When the subject of this sketch was a child his father removed to 
Western Virginia, where he received a common-school education, 
studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1845, and commenced 
the practice at Earkersburg. In 1855 he was elected to the House 
of Delegates of Virginia, and during six years represented his 
neighbors in that capacity at Richmond. He was in the State 
Legislature in the extra session in the spring of 1861, taking an 
active part against the secession movement. While the Legislature 
was in session a Convention was held in Richmond for the purpose 
of carrying Virginia out of the Union. Excitement became very 
great. The Legislature was lost sight of in the superior importance 
of the deliberations of the Convention. Mr. Boreman left Rich- 
mond finally, after the adjournment of the Legislature, about the 
time the ordinance of secession was passed, with the determination 
of doing Ws utmost to stay the progress of rebellion. He was 
president of the Wheeling Convention, held in 1861 for the pur- 
pose of reorganizing the government of Virginia. In October of 
that year he was elected Judge of the Circuit Court, and held that 
office until 1863, when, the old state of Virginia having been 
divided and West Virginia constructed, Mr. Boreman was unani- 
mously chosen the first Governor, no vote being cast against 
him. In 1861 another gubernatorial election was held, and he was 
again unanimously elected, receiving 19,098 votes. In 1S66 he was 
207 



9 ARTHUR I. BOREMAN. 

elected for the third time. A Democratic candidate was put np 
against him, but Governor Boreman received 23,802 votes to 17,158 
for his opponent, a majority of 6,644. As Governor he cordially 
and efficiently co-operated with the General Government in the 
work of suppressing the rebellion. Under hi', administration 
more than 33,000 troops were sent into the field, who were among 
the bravest and most efficient soldiers in the Union armies. Gov- 
ernor Boreman made efficient use of the means at his disposal 
within his own State, seldom calling on the War Department for 
aid, which, whenever called for, was promptly granted. Secretary 
Stanton, after the close of the war, repeatedly expressed himself in 
terms of highest commendation of Governor Boreman's administra- 
tion, and his efficient co-operation with the government at Wash- 
ington. Such was the sleepless vigilance and tireless energy of 
Governor Boreman during the war, and amid the emergencies, 
equally trying, of the years immediately following, that his health 
was seriously and permanently impaired ; not, however, to such a 
degree as to prevent him from giving further service to the country. 
In 1808 Mr. Boreman declined a re-election as Governor, and 
was in the following year chosen United States Senator, to succeed 
Peter (J. Van Winkle, for the term of six years from the 4th of 
March, I860. During the Forty-first Congress Mr. Boreman served 
on the Committees on Manufactures, Territories, and the Removal 
of Political Disabilities. The principal speech made by him dur- 
ing this Congress was on the bill to admit the State of Georgia to 
representation. He viewed the subject as "involving questions of 
great State policy, and not of mere technical law," and urged that 
" the hesitating policy which had characterized the action of Con- 
gress at almost every step, since the close of the war, looking to the 
reconstruction of the rebel States, should not lead us to commit an 
irreparable injury in the case of Georgia." He comprehensively 
reviewed the course of Congress in reconstruction, which " after 
near two years of temporizing" at length began in earnest, and 
"has been progressing in the midst of opposition and obstacle to 
the present time." 

208 




/ / ) /( u //, 



/r 






WILLIAM G. BROW^LOW. 



<g »%?ILLIAM G. BROWN LOW was born in Wythe County, 
Va., August 29, 1805. Until eighteen years old he was 
reared to labor, and afterward served as a regular appren- 
tice to a house-carpenter. " I have been a laboring man," 
he states, " all my life long, and have acted upon the scriptural 
maxim of eating my bread in the sweat of my brow ;" and it was 
one of bis declared sentiments that labor was not degrading, was 
dignified rather, and essential to the welfare of the country. 

Mr. Brownlow's education, as may be inferred, was imperfect, 
and was defective, as he asserts, even in those branches taught in 
the common schools of the country. Like many other indigent 
but worthy young men, he acquired by his trade the means of 
supplying the defects of early mental training. After this he en- 
tered the Methodist itinerant ministry, traveling during ten years 
without intermission, and availed himself meanwhile of his position 
to improve still further his limited education, especially in all the 
English branches. 

After retiring from the itinerant ministry Mr. Brownlow com- 
menced the editing and publishing of the Knoxville Whig, in 
which occupation he continued for twenty-five years, his paper 
having a larger circulation than any political newspaper in the 
State of Tennessee, and taking meanwhile an active part in all the 
religious and political controversies of the time. He published 
meanwhile several books, mostly of a controversial character. At 
the same time, though much of a controversialist, he seems never- 
theless to have been a man of peace, and singularly free from the 
prevalent vices of the day. " I have never," he says, " been ar- 
raigned in the Church for any immorality. I never played a card. 
I never was a profane swearer. I never drank a dram of liquor 
until within a few years, when it was taken as a medicine. I 
209 



2 WILLIAM G. BR01VNL0 W. 

never had a cigar or a chew of tobacco in my mouth. I never was 
in attendance at a theater. I never attended a horse-race, and 
never witnessed their running save on fair grounds of my own" 
county. I never courted but one woman, and her I married." 

Mr. Brownlow was in politics an " Old Line Whig," and his 
confession of political faith he thus expresses : " I am the advocate 
of a concentrated Federal government, or of a strong central gov- 
ernment, able to maintain its dignity, to assert its authority, and 
to crush out any rebellion that may be inaugurated. I have never 
been a sectional, but at all times a national man, supporting men for 
the Presidency and Vice-Presidency without any regard on which 
side of Mason and Dixon's line they were horn or resided at the 
time of their nomination ; in a word, I am, as I ever have been, an 
ardent Whig, and Clay and Webster have ever been my standards 
of political orthodoxy. With the breaking up of old parties I have 
merged every thing into the great question of the Union, the Con- 
stitution, and the enforcement of the laws." 

From all this it followed that Mr. Brownlow was among the 
sternest and most uncompromising of Union men, and a bitter and 
unrelenting foe of secession. This he fought early and late, 
through all evil report, and at the greatest hazard to life and limb, 
and contended against it with the severest blows of logic, with the 
most scathing and terrible denunciations, and even with the keen- 
est shafts of ridicule. On the eve of secession, and always before, 
he was equally pitted against the abolitionism of the North. A 
strong pro-slavery man, and having a tendency to controversy, 
he had persistently advocated from a scriptural stand-point 
the propriety and righteousness of American slavery, and was 
long recognized as one of its principal champions in the 
South. Standing between these two great evils, as he viewed 
them, he dealt his heaviest blows upon them both ; but as he 
beheld the demon of secession actually rearing and. spreading 
itself over the Southern States, it at once revealed itself to him 
as a calamity more to be dreaded than the abolition of slavery. 
If he favored the latter, he, however, prized the union of these 
210 



WILLIAM G. BROWNLOW. 3 

States far more, and if one or the other must perish, he preferred 
it should be slavery. 

It could not be otherwise than that the bold and determined 
stand assumed by Mr. Brownlow, both by pen and voice, against 
secession, should bring against him in return a fearful array of hos- 
tility, denunciation, and ultimate persecution. One of the earlier 
manifestations of hatred and enmity was the withdrawal of patron- 
age from his paper, together with the ungracious addresses accom- 
panying such withdrawal. 

In March, 1861, Mr. Brownlow issued several thousands of 
copies of a circular declaring himself a candidate for the office of 
Governor of Tennessee, but subsequently withdrew from the con- 
test in favor of another candidate, whom he supposed to be more 
likely to defeat secession. In the following autumn, as the result 
of publishing in his paper several taunting and ironical calls to the 
secession leaders in East Tennessee to volunteer as soldiers, his 
paper was promptly suppressed, and his arrest was determined upon. 
With this prospect before him he writes, " I expect to go to jail, 
and I am ready to start upon one moment's warning. Not only 
so, but there I am prepared to lie in solitary confinement until I 
waste away because of imprisonment, or die from old age. Stimu- 
lated by a consciousness of innocent uprightness, I will submit to 
imprisonment for life or die at the end of a rope before I will 
make any humiliating concession to any power on earth. I shall 
in no degree feel humbled by being cast into prison ; but, on the 
contrary, I shall feel proud of my confinement. I shall go to jail, 
as John Rodgers went to the stake, for my principles. I shall go 
because I have failed to recognize the hand of God in the breaking 
up of the American Government, and the inauguration of the most 
wicked, cruel, unnatural, and uncalled-for war ever recorded in 
history." 

After the suppression of his paper, however, and previously to 

his imprisonment, Mr. Brownlow, at his home in Knoxville, was 

the subject of daily insults from the secessionists, accompanied with 

threats against his life. Under these circumstances he was per- 

211 



4 WILLIAM G. BROWNLOW. 

suaded by his family and other friends to retire for a season from 
his home, and conceal himself from his murderous enemies. He 
accordingly took leave of his family early in November, and, with 
a few other loyal men, withdrew into the Smoky Mountains, sepa- 
rating North Carolina from Tennessee, a wild region, difficult of 
access, and quite beyond the precincts of civilization. Here the 
party encamped, receiving during the time their supplies from 
friends who were aware of their hiding-place. The fugitives, 
especially Brownlow, were diligently searched for by their ene- 
mies, until prudence dictated a separation and dispersion to dif- 
ferent localities. Mr. Brownlow, with a companion, left the 
mountains by night, and after a ride of about forty miles on horse- 
back, came by morning to a resting-place six miles from Knox- 
ville, where they were provided with comfortable lodgings at the 
house of a friend. While here be was promised by the secession 
General Crittenden a passport and military escort to go to Ken- 
tucky, a> being a too influential and troublesome man to be toler- 
ated within the Confederate lines. He reported himself accord- 
ingly to General Crittenden, received a renewal of the promise of 
passport and escort, and was to start on the morning of December 
7. Before the appointed time arrived, however, he was arrested 
on a warrant for treason, tailed of protection from Crittenden, 
refused a trial and bail, and was committed to the common 
jail. Here about one hundred and fifty Union men, old and 
young, were incarcerated, and so crowded was the building that 
there was not room for all to lie down at once, but the prisoners 
were obliged to sleep and rest by turns. Many of these prisoners 
were old and tried friends of Mr. Brownlow, and hailed his en- 
trance among them with surprise and tears. Finding them gen- 
erally depressed in spirits, and fearing the worst, he addressed 
them, saying, " Gentlemen, don't take your confinement so much 
to heart ; rather glory in it as patriots devoted to your country 
and to your principles. ... I am here with you to share your sor- 
rows and sufferings, and here I intend to stay until the rebels 
release me or execute me, or until the Federal army shall come to 
212 



WILLIAM G. BROWNLOW. 5 

my rescue. You may take a different view of the subject, but I 
regard this as the proudest day of my life." 

After a confinement of nearly a month Mr. Brownlow was taken 
with severe sickness, and, on the application of his physician, was 
permitted to exchange the confinement of the prison for a private 
room on his own premises, where lie was guarded as at the jail. 
Here he continued till the first of March, when the officer in com- 
mand of the post was authorized by the Richmond Government to 
send him within the Federal lines, where he was received with the 
most cordial welcome. 

Mr. Brownlow, shortly after reaching Nashville, proceeded north, 
and visited many of the principal cities, taking in his route Cin- 
cinnati, Indianapolis, Chicago, Columbus, Pittsburgh, Harrisburgh, 
Philadelphia. Baltimore, and Washington, addressing crowds of 
people wherever he came, and being everywhere received with 
flattering welcome. A few weeks after his departure from Knox- 
ville, Mrs. Brownlow received notice that herself and family would 
be required to pass beyond the Confederate lines within thirty-six 
hours, and that passports would be granted them accordingly. 
They reached Bordentown, N. J., in safety, where Mr. Brownlow 
was waiting to receive them. 

Mr. Brownlow was a member of the Constitutional Convention 
for the reorganization of the State of Tennessee, and on the 4th of 
March, 1865, was elected Governor with almost no opposition. In 
1867 he was re-elected against Emerson Etheridge, the opposition 
candidate, and on March 4, 18G9, took his seat in the Senate of 
the United States to succeed David T. Patterson. 

Mr. Brownlow was placed on the Committees on Pensions and 
Revolutionary Claims. His state of health seems to have pre- 
vented him from an extended record of service in the Forty-first 
Congress, although no Senator was more constant in his attendance 
upon the sessions of the Senate. At its first session he on the 
loth of December had leave to present, as a personal explanation, 
a speech in the form of a letter relating to a previous election in 

Tennessee. 

213 



6 WILLIAM G. BROWNLOW. 

On the fifteenth of February, 1872, Mr. Brownlow, having been 
charged by M)-. Beck, in the House of Representatives, with being 
a "refugee," made a personal explanation, which was read at the 
desk by the Secretary of the Senate. This address contained 
interesting matter of personal history, of which the following 
paragraphs are specimen- ; 

" I am a refugee, and while the short limit of my life endures, 
cannot recover from its outward signs. These feeble limbs that 
need assistance to bring me to this chamber; these palsied hands 
that ask fur help to write; my whispering voice that cannot speak 
my thoughts, all bear testimony to the fact — I am a refugee. It is 
a coward's part to call me one, but yet I hold the title as an honor. 

I first became a refugee on the fifth day of November, 1861, 
having remained in Knoxville defending the cause of my country 
against organized treason, at the risk of my life, until that day. 
How I have escaped immolation I do not know, except that it was 
in the mercy of God's providence, which sustained me in my 
efforts to put down a hell horn rebellion. My paper had been 
suppressed, and my arrest for treason against the Southern Confed- 
eracy determined upon. ... I found a hiding-place from the blood- 
hounds of the rebellion in the smoky mountains which separate 
North Carolina from Tennessee, beyond the precincts of civiliza- 
tion. Amid the high summits of this range, and in one of their 
deep gorges where no vehicle hail ever penetrated, 1 found a tem- 
porary refuge, until rebel .-com-, discovered my hiding-place. I 
was then induced by false promises of protection, and being sent 
through the lines, to deliver myself to the rebel authorities of the 
confederacy in Tennessee, but they treacherously threw me into 
prison. I will not detail the dreary hours of that incarceration, in 
which I saw men led from my side to an execution which I ex- 
pected daily to share; others dying of fever; the agonized cries 
of wives and children of men sent to death for loving their conn- 
try. I, who was second to no man in strength and vigor of body 
and constitution, came out of prison sick, and have never recovered 
from the shock my system then received." 
211 



m* 




(IfbMuJz 




WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 



"jX WmiLUAM A. BUCKINGHAM was born in Lebanon, 
jjfiln Conn., May 21, 1S04. At the age of twenty lie com- 
menced a course of training for mercantile life, and two 
years later established himself as a merchant in the city of Nor- 
wich, where his career has been alike successful and honorable. 
His enterprising life, his prudence, thrift, punctuality, and spotless 
integrity, have given him in the business circles of the country a 
name without blemish or reproach. 

In 1858 he was elected Governor of Connecticut, and was suc- 
cessively re-elected in the seven years following. From the com- 
mencement of the national troubles he conceived that compromise 
with the South was impossible, that the great struggle for liberty 
in this countrj' was at hand, and that no human agency could 
avert the storm. Hence the news of the fall of Sumter, and the 
Presidential call for troops, found Governor Buckingham awake to 
the great crisis, and though the State Legislature was not in ses- 
sion, yet his extensive financial relations enabled him to command 
at once the necessary funds for equipping the militia for the field. 
Influential and strong men were ready to co-operate with him at 
this critical period, and the Governor gave himself with a will to 
the great work ; and when, by the uprising of rebellion in Mary- 
land, Washington was deemed in imminent peril, the first tidings 
received from the North was that Connecticut was rising as one 
man for the rescue of the government, thus giving assurance to the 
President that the national capital was safe. 

The advanced and enlightened views of Governor Buckingham 

at this very beginning of the great struggle are noteworthy and 

remarkable. In an official communication to President Lincoln 

he insisted that this was no ordinary rebellion ; that more than 

215 



2 WILLIAM A. BUCKINGHAM. 

300,000 men were already organized and armed against the gov- 
ernment; that these gigantic preparations should be met and sup- 
pressed by a power of corresponding magnitude; that the princi- 
ples of equity and justice, the claims of humanity, civilization, and 
religion unite in demanding a sufficient force to drive the rebels 
from every field ; that half a million of men should at once be 
raised for this purpose ; that all other legislation than what was 
demanded for suppressing the rebellion should be deemed out of 
place until the authority of the government should be respected in 
every section of the country ; and he pledged the Stale of Con- 
necticut, witli its entire resources, to co-operate with the General 
Government in currying out the strong and patriotic measures 
which he suggested. 

Thus Governor Buckingham possessed a clearer vision of the 
importance and magnitude of the rebellion than many other states- 
men. He had little faith that "the war would be over in sixty 
days," or in "three months," nor, as it loomed up in greater and 
more alarming proportions, did bis energy and courage falter in 
the least degree. He was among the earliest to urge upon the 
President the policy of emancipation, alleging strong and unan- 
swerable arguments in its favor; and when at length the cautious 
yet brave Lincoln sent forth his proclamation of September 24, 

1862, the equally brave Governor of C tecticut was among the 

first to congratulate him and the country. Indeed, from the be- 
ginning to the end Governor Buckingham was one of those effi- 
cient and loyal magistrates who rallied closely around President 
Lincoln, advising and cheering him in the dark hours of the war, 
assuring him of the fidelity of the people, and that the loyal 
masses of the North would carry him safely through the mighty 
struggle. 

He was elected to the United States Senate from Connecticut, 
and took his seal March 4, 1869. He served bis State and coun- 
try in this capacity with unbending integrity and distinguished 
honor. Jus! before the expiration of the term for which he was 
elected be died, universally regretted. 
216 







/t^ftu/it 




MATTHEW H. CARPENTER 



■^aKATTHEW II. CARPENTER was born December 22, 




1824, at Mooretown, Washington County, Vermont, In 
^k^p June, 1S43, at the age of nineteen, lie bore the requisite 
examination and was entered a cadet at West Point, 
where he maintained an honorable position until he resigned in 
1845, on account of ill health, while his class was on furlough. 

He soon thereafter entered upon the stud}' of the law in the 
office of the Hon. Paul Dillingham, of Waterbury, Vermont, under 
whose instruction, and by a course of systematic reading, he 
acquired a knowledge of those solid elementary principles of the 
law which have been the gn mud-work of his future success at the 
Bar. His great aptitude in grouping and comprehending princi- 
ples, his powers of reasoning and critical analysis, his readiness of 
perception and retentive memory, with intense application, soon 
made him complete master of the learning and theories of his pro- 
fession, and perfectly qualified him for admission to the Bar, and he 
was accordingly admitted at Montpelier, Vermont, in the spring of 
1817. He immediately entered upon the practice and active duties 
of his profession in no obscure place, and with none of that doubt- 
ing timidity that shrinks from competition, for he sought a position 
in the office of Hon. Rufus Choate, of Boston, as his assistant, and 
continued with that great lawyer, at the period of his highest 
maturity and greatest practice, until July, 1848. How much famil- 
iar intercourse with Mr. Choate, socially and professionally, and 
the exalted abilities, eloquence, peculiar manner, and high standing 
as a lawyer of such an example and instructor may have influenced 
a young man so impressible as Mr. Carpenter, and so capable of 
appreciating such high qualities, cannot be known. But however 
217 



■2 MATTHEW H. CARPENTER. 

much of an impetus may have been, and certainly was, given to his 
progress by such a connection, and however much his ambition and 
emulation may have hen excited, he became no mere copyist or 
imitator, but has always maintained his own natural manner and 
peculiar style of oratory. And yet the advantages of such instruc- 
tion and intercourse must have been most efficient and salutary in 
forming and shaping his future career, as we know they have been 
in securing his lasting admiration and gratitude. 

After being admitted to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massa- 
chusetts he went to Beloit, Wisconsin, one of the most flourishing 
young cities of the State, and commenced his independent career as 
a lawyer, with scarcely any other means than his ready and com- 
manding abilities as a counselor and advocate, and secured from the 
start a large and lucrative practice. He was soon elected to the 
office of District-Attorney of Rock County, and held it for two 
terms with great credit to himself and usefulness to the public. 
He very soon attained the highest rank among a Bar conceded to be 
as able as any in the West, and was unexcelled as a profound law- 
yer and eloquent advocate, and no lawyer anywhere has been 
engaged in more cases or of greater importance. In 1S51 he con- 
ducted a cause involving the questions of dedication to public use, 
of the legality of city plats, and of estoppel by deed and in pais 
concerning a public landing on Hock River, in the city of Beloit. 
The cum' came to the Supreme Court of the State when at that 
time in that Court such questions were new, ami Mr. Carpenter's 
brief, reported in full with the opinion of the Court, is a master- 
piece of legal investigation and learning, and the most elaborate to 
be found in the reports of that Court, passing in review the leading 
authorities of England and this country on the question involved — 
over one hundred cited cases. 

In 1856 that very remarkable proceeding by quo warranto to try 
the title of the office of Governor of Wisconsin, between the 
relator Bashford and the incumbent Barstow, was argued in the 
Supreme Court. Mr. Carpenter was the leading counsel for the 
respondent. The questions were then new and very important, 
218 



MATTHEW H. CARPENTER. 3 

involving an inquiry into the constitutional principles of our State 
governments and the relative power of the departments, and his 
brief in that cause, with an abstract of his argument, showing a 
char understanding of the subject and great research, were also 
published with the opinion of the Court in the Wisconsin Reports. 
These two cases are not mentioned because they were the only ones 
of great importance in which he was thus early engaged, but as 
indicating the class of causes in which his services were sought, and 
which he was deemed fully able to manage. 

His practice in Wisconsin constitutes a very large part of the 
judicial history of the State, and for several years past his has been 
the most familiar and attractive presence in the Supreme Court of 
the United States. lie w T as retained by the late and lamented 
Stanton, when Secretary of AYar, to argue before the Supreme 
Court several important causes growing out of the reconstruction 
measures of Congress, and involving the constitutional powers of 
the Government. His able arguments in the Garland and McAr- 
dle cases bear indubitable evidence of his ability and high position 
in the highest ranks of the profession ; and it is safe to assume that, 
more than any other lawyer in the country, he has impressed his 
views upon the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United 
States in the disposition of the great and complicated questions 
arising from the war of the Rebellion and the anomalous condition 
of the reconstructed States. His legal practice has been most 
extensive and diversified, and his researches and knowledge in all 
branches of jurisprudence are exhaustive and profound. But as a 
mere lawyer and able counselor he is not alone distinguished. 
Although not often associated in the same individual, yet in him we 
find a remarkable combination of the highest powers of reason and 
logic, great learning, clear and impartial judgment, with the embel- 
lishments of imagination, ehxpience, and wit. His exalted position 
both at the Bar and in the Senate, his forensic efforts and his ad- 
dresses before popular assemblies, have exhibited him as an orator 
seldom rivaled, as all who have heard him will freely concede. 

His literary acquirements are extensive, and his tastes cultivated 
219 



i MATTHEW H. CARPENTER. 

and refilled. His intimate knowledge of books, of law, and of lit- 
erature could only be acquired by the most constant and severe 
study and reading, and he has gathered the largest and best selected 
libraries of both law and miscellaneous literature in the country. 

In the common acceptation of the word he has never been a pol- 
itician or an office-seeker. Both by education and natural impulse 
he was a Jeffersonian Democrat, and he acted ably and disinterest- 
edly with the Democratic party until he conscientiously believed 
that to continue longer his partv connection would rank him with 
the enemies of his country, and he then, at the risk of odium and 
proscription, broke ranks, and has since stood shoulder to shoulder 
with the Republican party, 

Mr. Carpenter waseleeted a United States Senator from Wisconsin, 
to succeed Mr. Doolittle, and took his seat March 4, 18*10. lie served 
as a member of the Committees on the Judiciary, Patents, the Re- 
vision of the Laws of the United States, and Privileges and Elec- 
tions. From the first lie has borne a conspicuous ami able part in 
the debates of the Senate, participating in nearly all important 
discussions. His speech in reply to Sumner and Schurz, during 
the French Arms debate, attracted special attention. It is said to 
have been more widely circulated than any other public document 
during the political campaign of 1872, more than one million 
copies having been distributed from Washington alone. In March, 
1873, he was elected President of the Senate pro tempor< . 

He has a striking and attractive personal appearance, and pos- 
- fine eyes, thick brown hair, and a good complexion. He is 
a fluent speaker, an agreeable debater, and a shrewd parliamentary 
leader. He is now in the full maturity of his life, but by no means 
near the end of his acquirements and improvement ; for his great 
industry, constant study, and untiring and restless activity must 
advance him still higher in the shining pathway on which he has 
entered. 

220 



EUGENE CASSERLY. 




^UGENE CASSERLY is a native of Ireland, bom in 
1823. "When four years old lie came with his parents to 
America and settled in New York city. Young Casserly 
fared better than most children of newly-arrived emi- 
grants in the city, and instead of being left to the uncertain educa- 
tion of the streets, he received careful instruction in classical and 
general studies. 

After leaving school he spent five years as an attache of the 
newspaper press. Meanwhile, having studied law, he was in 1845 
admitted to practice in the courts of New York. In 1846-4-7 he 
served as Corporation Attorney. He continued the practice of law 
in New York until 1850, when he went to California, and made 
his residence in San Francisco, where he has since resided. He 
began life in California as the publisher of a daily paper, and in 
1851-52 was State printer. He then resumed the practice of law, 
which he continued until November, 1S68, when he was elected 
United States Senator from California. 

On taking his seat in the Senate, March 4, 1S69, Mr. Casserly 
was placed on the Committees on Foreign Relations, Public Lands, 
and Printing. He began early to rank among the most active 
members and most frequent speakers of the Senate. His manner 
of addressing the body is fluent, easy, and generally unimpassioned. 
His views on all party questions, which are strongly Democratic, 
are presented clearly, often forcibly, and always persistently. His 
first extended speech was in favor of repealing the Civil-Tenure 
Act. He gave no countenance to the idea of merely suspending 
the law. Said he, " I am for the repeal of the law, pure and sim- 
ple. I shall vote for that because I believe the Tenure-of-Office 
Act to be a violation of the Constitution, and to have engendered, 
221 



2 EUGENE CASSERLY. 

and, for the time, disturbed some of tbe most important balances 
of tbe Constitution." 

To the general measures of Reconstruction Mr. Casserly pre- 
sented an opposition stern, uncompromising, and invariable, and 
every step encountered bis persistent hostility. On the question 
of Georgia's being required, previous to reinstatement, to ratify 
tbe Fifteenth Amendment, he said : 

What has Congress to do with' the ratification by the States ? The function 
of Congress is ended when it proposes. It has nothing else to do with the sub- 
ject ; just as the function of the President is ended, in appointing to office, when 
he proposes a name to you. Suppose he should surround this Chamber with an 
armed force, and forbid you to go out for meat, drink, candle-light, or tire until 
you had agreed to his nomine- 1 , would that be a valid confirmation? Would 
that be an act of ratification which would bind anyone? "Would it bind this 
body any longer than until the external force was removed? That is entirely 
too plain for argument. Therefore I say that the coercion which, by the decla- 
rations of Senators, is to be exerted upon Georgia, whether it be expressed in 
the bill or omitted from it. is coercion that invalidates all ratifications which 
have in any substantial or material degree been affettcd by that coercion. 

Mr. Casserly favored the repeal of the Income Tax. insisting that 
the tax had outlived its time by at least two years, and that by its 
repeal the Senate would be doing a good work even if it were the 
only act of the present session. We present one more extract from 
the numerous speeches of Mr. Casserly, in which he evinces that, 
while a firm and consistent Democrat, he is capable of commending 
what he deems to be good, though the policy of a Republican ad- 
ministration. In the commencement of his speech on the Indian 
Appropriation Bill he remarked as- follows: 

The administration, in the assertion of an undoubted power, has seen fit to 
inaugurate a new policy in respect to Indian affairs. The distinguishing ele- 
ment of that policy is that it proposes, by means of a board of benevolent men, 
empl ying peaceful measure-, to bring the Indian tribes of the plain under the 
humanizing influences of Christian civilization. Can any object lie more noble? 
Can any be more honorable to the country '. Looking at it in the lowest, point 
of view, as a financial question, is any course so likely to turn out advanta- 
geously '. I- it not worth a trial '! I say with all my heart, Let the new policy 
be tried. I would no*, place the least obstruction in the way. I would not even 
speak too strongly of the many discouragements which our experience in the 
past may well suggest. 



EEUBEN" E. FEKTOK 



*yftr EUBEW E - FENTON was born in Carroll, Chautauqua 
County, New York, July 4, 1819. His father was a na- 
, , tive of New Hampshire, but the family was of Connecticut 
origin and furnished its share of soldiers, who did good 
service during the Revolutionary War. 

His opportunities for acquiring an education were limited to the 
common schools, and a few terms in neighboring academies, lie 
read law one year, not with the view of going into the profession, 
but for the purpose of obtaining knowledge which would be useful 
to him in whatever business he might engage. 

At the age of twenty he entered into mercantile business with 
limited means at his command, but with an energy and industry 
which soon made him successful. He soon engaged in the lumber 
trade as auxiliary to his mercantile pursuits. He was very pros- 
perous, and in a few years lumbering became his principal busi- 
ness. So energetically and skillfully did he ply this pursuit that 
he soon enjoyed the reputation of being the most successful lum- 
berman on the Alleghany and Ohio rivers. 

The first office held by Mr. Fenton was the Supervisorship of 
his native town, to which he was elected in 1S43. He held the 
office eight years, during three of which he was Chairman of the 
Board, although the majority were Whigs, while he was a Demo- 
crat. In 1849 he was a candidate for the Assembly, and came 
within twenty-one votes of being elected, although the successful 
candidate was one of the most popular men in the district, which 
was strongly Whig. 

In 1852 he was a candidate for Representative in Congress, and 
was elected by fifty-two majority, although his opponents had 
counted on carrying the district by at least three thousand ma- 
jority. He took his seat in a house in which the Democrats out- 
223 



2 REUBEN E. FENTON. 

numbered their opponents by about two to one. Just then occurred 
one of the most memorable events in the legislative history of this 
country, the proposal by Mr. Douglas of a bill to repeal the Mis- 
souri Compromise. Mr. Fenton, with Nathaniel P. Banks and 
others of the younger Democrats, strenuously opposed this proposi- 
tion, but it passed the House by a vote of 113 to 100, and became 
a law. A breach was thus made in the Democratic ranks which 
was never healed. Mr. Fenton, with such conspicuous Democrats 
as Preston King and George Opdyke, was after that identified 
with the Republicans. 

In 1854 Mr. Fenton did not consent to be a candidate for re- 
election until the Saturday before the election, and the Know 
Nothings carried his district by a considerable majority against 
him. In 1856 he was a candidate mi the Fremont ticket and was 
elected, and was re-elected by large and generally increasing ma- 
jorities until 1801, when he was nominated for Governor. 

Mr. Feliton's career of ten years in Congress was marked by 
much that was useful t<> his constituents and the country. With 
humane and patriotic care he watched the interests of the soldiers 
of 1812, and shortly after entering Congress lie introduced a bill 
providing for the payment of certain just claims due them. He 
continued to urge this measure upon the attention of Congress, and 
finally, on the 30th of May, L860, had the satisfaction to witness 
its passage in the House. He held a prominent place on several 
leading Committees, and discharged the duties which thus devolved 
upon him in a most successful manner. He delivered able and 
effective speeches against the repeal of the Missouri Compromise 
Act, and in opposition to the policy of the Democratic party with 
regard to Kansas, and in favor of a cheap postal system, the bill to 
extend invalid pensions, for the improvement of rivers and harbors, 
the repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law, and other important subjects. 

In Congress Mr. Fenton gave his constant and efficient support 
to the government in its efforts to suppress the rebellion. He 
voted steadily for taxes, leans, levies, drafts, and for the policy of 
emancipation. 

224 



REUBEN E. FENTON. 3 

As early as the fall of 1862 Mr. Fenton'a name was favorably 
mentioned in connection with the office of Governor of New York 
but upon the presentation of the name of General Wadsworth he 
promptly withdrew from the canvass, and gave his warmest sup- 
port to the patriot soldier. Two years later Mr. Fenton received 
the nomination, and was elected Governor by a majority consider- 
ably larger than that of Mr. Lincoln in JSTew York. 

Entering upon his administration as Governor at a most trying 
period in the progress of the war, Mr. Fenton found exercise for 
all his industry and ability as an executive officer. He was prompt 
to reward merit, and skillful to harmonize differences which threat- 
ened injury to military organizations in the held. 

His judicious course in the administration of public affairs met 
with much approval and created strong public confidence. At the 
close of the first year of his service as Governor, Moses H. Grinned, 
Peter Cooper, and many other prominent citizens of New York, 
addressed him a letter of thanks, promising him their hearty co- 
operation and support in his efforts to meliorate the condition of 
the metropolis. A few mouths later, when he was in New York, 
city, he was waited upon in person by thousands of leading citi- 
zens, who gave him sincere expressions of their warm approbation. 
The New York Tribune referred to this remarkable demonstration 
as a proper recognition of official worth and integrity, saving, 
" This hearty welcome sprang from a generous and enduring remem- 
brance of the protection afforded to our municipal rights and fran- 
chises in his judicious exercise of the veto power." His vetoes of 
various bills which would have deprived the city of valuable fran- 
chises without compensating advantages proved so acceptable to 
the Board of Supervisors of New York County that they passed a 
resolution tendering thanks to the Governor, and congratulating 
the people of the State "in having an Executive who possesses the 
vigilance and fearlessness necessary to correct the errors of hasty 
and imperfect legislation." 

Mr. Fenton's course as Governor during his first term had been 
such as to secure for him the unqualified approval of his party. 
225 



1 REUBEN E. FENTON. 

He had stimulated volunteering, and had relieved New York from 
a large portion of the dreaded burden of the draft. He had done 
much to originate a financial system which rendered the credit of 
the State secure, and furnished the means to supply the demands 
of war without being felt as oppressive. He had sought to foster 
all the material interests of the Commonwealth, and had reluctantly 
interposed to the defeat of needed enterprises when their aid would 
render the burden of taxation onerous, and awaited a more favor- 
able opportunity to join in giving them necessary aid. He was 
vigilant in his attention to the commercial wants of the State, and 
promoted its prosperity by every means within his reach as its 
chief Executive. 

So successful and popular had been the administration of Gov- 
ernor Fenton that the Republican State Convention of 1866 re- 
nominated him by acclamation, and he was elected by a majority 
of five thousand larger than was given him for his first term. 

In his messages to the Legislature Governor Fenton advised a 
reduction of the number of items in the tax lists, and a re-adjust- 
ment of the assessment laws, in order that every source of wealth 
might bear its just proportion of burden. He took strong ground 
in defense of the inviolate maintenance of the national faith. He 
elocpiently maintained the rights of the freedmen, in consideration 
of their manhood and loyalty, to protection through law, and to 
the elective franchise. 

The claims of Governor Fenton to receive the Republican nom- 
ination for the Yice-Presidency were strongly urged upon the 
Chicago Convention of 1868. The Republican State Convention 
held at Syracuse February 5, 1868, unanimously adopted a resolu- 
tion that " Reuben E. Fenton is the first choice of the Republican 
party in this State for the office of Vice-President." 

Having been elected to the Senate of the United States, Mr. 
Fenton took his seat in that body on the 1th of March, 1SC9, for 
the term ending in 1S75. During the Forty-first Congress he 
served on the Committee on Finance and the Committee on the 
Pacific Railroad. 

226 



2 J. W. FLANAGAN. 

election, in February, 1870, as a Republican, to the United States 
Senate, taking his seat in that body on the 31st of March following. 

Mr. Flanagan, though a large slave-holder, always adhered un- 
flinchingly to the Union, and was one of the ten out of four hun- 
dred and eighty-five who cast his vote against secession ; and he re- 
cords with pleasure that a son and a son-in-law were also of the ten. 

Mr. Flanagan is one of the modest and prudent men of the 
Senate ; while, at the same time, in his remarks before that body 
he gives evidence of a large share of independence of thought, as 
well as of much good sense. One of the most elaborate of his 
speeches in the Forty-first Congress was that on the abolition of 
the franking privilege, delivered on the 9th of June, a few weeks 
after entering the Senate. In this speech he took very decided 
ground against this bill. lie considered the franking privilege a 
privilege not only to those who possessed it, but also to their con- 
stituents, and a public advantage. He admitted its abuse, but 
contended that the benefits arising from it much overbalanced the 
evils; and this he endeavored to illustrate by alluding to the infor- 
mation scattered broadcast over the country by the use of the 
frank, which he was inclined to elevate to the rank of an educator 
of the people. He said : 

If I preferred darkness rather than light, I would vote to abolish the frank- 
ing privilege. But I am unqualifiedly for education. I want education broad- 
cast throughout the Union. I want to educate the boys and the little girls. I 
want to be educated myself. * * * I de-ire to be able at all times to be the 
instrument to send knowledge and information to the great State of Texas, 
which I have the honor, in part, to represent. * * * Let information be spread 
abroad in every sense of the word. Our people are a reading people; and I 
am all anxiety that they should be enabled to have all the documents that 
emanate from the Congress of the United States, or anything that may come 
into the possession of the representatives of the people at large. * * * As a 
matter of course, bad documents will occasionally get among the people under 
this privilege; but I am clearly of the opinion that if proper documents had 
been spread broadcast throughout the South at the proper period previous to 
the war, the people thereby obtaining proper light on their relations to the 
Government, the Rebellion would not have gone on as it did. 

Such were some of the sentiments urged by the Senator, and 
such may be deemed a specimen of his ordinarv style. 
228 




■'/■< 







ABIJAH GILBERT. 




^BIJAH GILBERT is a native of Gilbertsville, Otsego 
County, New York. He was the eldest of a family of 
eighteen children born to a father who was a man of 
remarkable energy, great force of character, and rare 
integrity, lie was a strict Presbyterian, and reared his family in 
accordance with his high notions of Christian precept and practice. 
The duty of implicit obedience was early learned by every member 
of his numerous household. So carefully did they heed the maxims 
of a wise lather that all of them who lived to maturity became 
wealthy and influential citizens. 

Mr. Gilbert entered Hamilton College as a student; but applica- 
tion to study developed symptoms of consumption, and he was 
compelled to abandon his plans for literary and professional pur- 
suits. He then went into a store as clerk, and, finding the employ- 
ment conducive to his health, he entered with much energy and 
ability into mercantile pursuits. He greatly extended his opera- 
tions, with head -quarters in New York city, and branch establish- 
ments in various parts of the country. He was very prosperous in 
his commercial undertakings, and while yet in middle life had 
secured an ample fortune. 

At this point, such is the spirit of the age, most men would have 
increased their efforts, and labored with greater zeal to swell their 
already more than sufficient fortunes; but Mr. Gilbert had other 
and higher aims. He wisely determined to enjoy his wealth, by 
making it of service to hiixself and his fellow-men. He retired 
from active business pursuits, expecting to find some better way of 
employing his time and money than simply in amassing more. 

Opportunities were not long wanting. The climate of New York 
being unfavorable to the health of his family, Mr. Gilbert deter- 
mined to settle in Florida. He purchased a handsome place near 
229 



2 ABIJAH GILBERT. 

the ancient city of St. Augustine, the beauties of which he de- 
veloped by a judicious outlay of money and the exercise of a culti- 
vated taste. But it was not destined that he should spend his time 
in devotion to rural pleasures and pursuits. Citizenship in Florida, 
in its transition state, brought with it new duties and responsibilities. 

In early life Mr. Gilbert had been a Whig, but after the demise 
of the old party which had so long claimed his fealty he became 
an ardent Republican. The cares of business, however, had pre- 
vented him from actively participating in politics, and in the North 
there were so many competent as well as willing to do political 
work ami hold the offices that Mr. Gilbert had gladly stood aloof. 
In Florida, however, affairs wire different. A large portion of the 
population had just been released from a slavery which had left 
them poor both in money ami in intellectual resources. With un- 
exampled magnanimity the Government had come out of the war 
leaving its enemies rich, and its friends in the South abjectly poor. 

A political campaign came on in Florida involving the whole 
question of Reconstruction and the future well-being of the State; 
but the party friendly to the Government had no money to prose- 
cute a canvass, and take the first step- necessary to a successful 
issue. At this juncture Mr. Gilbert, without even visiting the 
Capital or making the acquaintance of politicians, nearly all the 
candidates being unknown to him, quietly furnished the money 
necessary to conduct the canvass. Speakers went to all parts of the 
State at his expense, the newly enfranchised people were enlight- 
ened as to their rights and duties, and t lie State by a large majority 
was carried for the Republicans. 

Mr. Gilbert refused to -hare any of the honors or emoluments 
resulting from the victory. The Republican Legislature would 
gladly have elected him to a seat in the United States Senate on 
the readmission of the State, but he declined the honor. The 
service of Senator Welch, who drew the short term, expiring March 
4, 1869, Mr. Gilbert was prevailed upon to allow his name to be 
used for the succession, and he was elected by more than a full 
party vote for the Senatorial term ending March 3, 1S75. 
230 



WILLIAM T. HAMILTON. 




iTLLIAM T. HAMILTON was born in Washington 
County, Maryland, September 8, 1S20. His parents died 
when lie was quite young, and he was adopted by his maternal 
uncles, three of the oldest citizens of Hagerstown. His education, 
commenced in the common schools, and continued at the Haters- 
town Academy, was completed at Jefferson College, Cannonsbunj, 
Pennsylvania. 

Upon his return to Hagerstown he studied law under Hon. John 
Thompson Mason, and was admitted to the bar of Washington 
County in 1845. He devoted himself with energy to his profession, 
in which he rose to a proud and flattering eminence. " In a pro- 
fessional point of view," says a leading journal, " he is one of the 
ablest and most successful lawyers in Maryland, and his social 
standing is high and unsullied." 

In politics from the first he was a Democrat, and as such was 
elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in 1846, after a close 
and exciting contest. In 1847 he was again nominated on the 
Democratic ticket for the same position, and although be was largely 
ahead of his ticket, was defeated— the Whigs having that year car- 
ried the county. In the Presidential contest of 1848 he was a 
candidate for Presidential elector on the Cass ticket. In 1849 he 
received from the Democratic party his first nomination to Con- 
gress, and was elected in a close and very animated contest, 
although the district had the year before given a large majority 
for General Taylor. The absorbing issue of the day in the district 
was the tariff. Mr. Hamilton advocated the Democratic principle 
of duties for revenue, and was elected upon that issue. 

During his first term in Congress Mr. Hamilton gave a steady 
231 



2 WILLIAM T. HAMILTON. 

support to the compromise measures of 1850, introduced by Mr. 
Clay. In 1851 he was re-elected to Congress for his second term. 
In 1853 Mr. Hamilton desired to withdraw from public life, and 
declined to be a candidate, but at the urgent instance of prominent 
gentlemen throughout the Congressional district, he was for the 
third time nominated by the regular Democracy, and was again 
elected over the Hon. Francis Thomas, who ran as an independent 
candidate against him. This was the most exciting political con- 
test ever waged in the district, and Mr. Hamilton was elected by 
upward of one thousand majority; In Congress he gave consist- 
ent and able support to the administration of President Pierce, and 
served faithfully and creditably upon several important commit- 
tees. In 1855 he was again nominated for Representative in Con- 
gress, but was this time defeated. From that time to the adoption 
of the present Constitution of Maryland he persistently declined 
all nominations for office — refusing to be a candidate for Governor 
in 1861, although urgently solicited by his party friends. 

His long and honorable prominence in State and national poli- 
tics singled him out as the candidate of his party for the United 
States Senate, and he was elected to that body, in which he took 
his seat March 4, 1869, for the term ending in 1875. He was as- 
signed to service on the Committes on Patents, Public Buildings 
and Grounds, and Mines and Mining. Although not a frequent 
speaker, he is one of the most earnest and effective debaters on the 
Democratic side of the Senate. He goes straight to his purpose, 
without indirection. Although exceedingly sober in his demeanor, 
he sometimes uses terms which give a glow of humor to the dry 
routine of Senatorial debate. His opposition to the measures of 
the Republican majority is marked by a frankness which is char- 
acteristic of reasonable and generous antagonism. 

232 







^/ 



JOHN F. LEWIS. 



« 'Sjj**OHN F. LEWIS was born near Port Republic, in the 
(fj| County of Rockingham, Va., March 1, 1818. His name 
'; V } and lineage are of Revolutionary fame. His paternal great 
grandfather, Thomas Lewis, was the elder brother of An- 
drew Lewis, whose imposing statue is among the group, with 
Henry, and Jefferson, and' Mason, around the "Washington monu- 
ment in Richmond, Va., and whose name is the synonym of all 
that is noble and chivalric in human character. His maternal 
great grandfather (his father and mother being cousins) was that 
Charles Lewis who is so frequently mentioned in Virginia history 
for his daring in the Indian warfare of that early period, and who 
was killed at the battle of Point Pleasant. His bloody clothes, 
brought by a soldier, conveyed the first news his wife had of his 
death. 

His father, General Samuel H. Lewis, was, during his whole 
mature life, a prominent citizen of Virginia, profoundly respected 
by men of all parties, and whose sterling moral and religious char- 
acter made him the beloved friend of Bishops Meade and Cobbs. 
The old veteran, while exceedingly genial among his especial 
friends, was a man remarkable for his strict religious observances, 
for his stern deportment in the presence of frivolity, particularly if 
it savored of irreligion, and for his iron will and irreproachable 
integrity as a public officer ; yet in his latter days he was as tender 
as a woman in the manifestation of his religious feelings and con- 
victions, and always wept when speaking of his two devoted friends, 
Bishop Meade and Bishop Cobbs. The name of General Samuel 
H. Lewis is dear to the Church in Virginia, in whose councils he 
was so long a ruling spirit. 

His son, the subject of this sketch, is heir to many of his traits 
233 



o JOHN F. LEWIS. 

of character. John F. Lewis while a boy was noted for his reck- 
less bravery, his impulsive denunciation of wrong, and his utter 
disregard of public opinion when he conceived it to be in error. 
These traits of character, belonging essentially to the Lewis family, 
coupled with his old anti-democratic proclivities and principles, 
brought him to the position he now occupies with such unmistakable 
advantage to his State, and with such genuine honesty of purpose. 

Born to a farmer's life, and living in the very stronghold of 
democracy, the famous " tenth legion," as it is still called in Vir- 
ginia, he of course saw but little of public life until iu 1861 he was 
elected to the Convention which attempted to withdraw Virginia 
from the Union. His county, although democratic, was opposed 
to its party leaders on this point ; it was thoroughly Union in sen- 
timent, and elected John F. Lewis for his known character and 
principles. His county, however, during the sitting of the Conven- 
tion, changed. Pleaded with and inflamed by a hundred stump 
speakers, it was persuaded to instruct its delegates in the Conven- 
tion to vote for secession ; but John F. Lewis, like a rock in the 
midst of the furious waves, was immovable. He sent back word 
to his constituents that " they had elected him as a Union man — 
they had sent him there to vote against secession — and while some 
assassins might kill him, there was no power on earth that could 
make him vote for that ordinance ;" and he never did. 

None but those -who were present at the time can realize the 
intense excitement that agitated Richmond for the six or seven 
days before the ordinance of secession was passed. Another con- 
vention had been secretly called, and had assembled there, com- 
posed of the most prominent men in Eastern Virginia, and for the 
avowed deliberate and determined purpose of raising the war flag 
should the Constitutional Convention fail to pass the ordinance. 
It assembled daily, and was a standing threat to the Unionists to 
drive them from the capital and inaugurate civil war. 

Many of the best and staunchest Union men gave way to the 
pressure, and signed the ordinance. Samuel M'Dowel More was 
burned in effigy ; Jubal A. Early was threatened with mob law ; 
234 



JOHN F. LEWIS. o 

jet More and Early, fearing the results, yielded to the overwhelm- 
ing excitement. Carlile and Willey fled from the city, and John 
F. Lewis was left — not to stem the torrent, for no one man could 
have done that, but to remain at his post and be true to the last. 
A hundred times that ordinance was thrust in his face, and the 
demand made upon him to sign it ; but he invariably replied, " 1 
will die first." 

He stood by when his colleague, Colonel Gray, after long per- 
suasion and many threats, was writing his name to it, and, grinding 
his teeth in anger, he exclaimed, "Never mind, Colonel, you need 
not be so particular about writing your name, for the time is com- 
ing when you will wish it blotted out ! " A prominent seces- 
sionist, who was standing by and holding the paper for Colonel 
Gray to sign, angrily replied, " Lewis, I expect to see you hanged 
yet ! " " And I," retorted the indomitable Unionist, " and I ex- 
pect to see the time when all such traitors as you are will be 
hanged ! " That he was not killed seemed almost a miracle. 

When the deed was done, and the last hope of saving his State 
was gone, he returned to his home, and during the whole war was 
an outspoken opponent of the Confederacy, and a warm and ardent 
friend to the American Union. His truth, his integrity, his hon- 
esty of purpose were so well known and so well appreciated that 
they seemed to be a shield to his open and often reckless Union 
utterances; and while others were imprisoned or shot down on the 
roadside, he was spared, and spared to save his State from the in- 
ternal strife which to-day retards the happiness and prosperity of 
many of the more Southern States. In 1S69 he was elected Lieu- 
tenant Governor on the ticket with Gilbert C. Walker, both gen- 
tlemen running as Republicans, and in November of that year he 
was elected to the United States Senate. 

Mr. Lewis married the youngest daughter of the great Virginia 
representative, Daniel Sheffy, and in their beautiful home on the 
banks of the Shenandoah, surrounded by their sons and daugh- 
ters, they constitute one of the most hospitable families in " Old 
Virginia." 

235 



± JOHN F. LEWIS. 

Ill the Senate, though little given to speech making, Mr. Lewis 
is a most active and efficient member. After serving as a member 
of several important committees, he was, at the organization of the 
Senate for the Forty-third Congress, made Chairman of the Com- 
mittee on the District of Columbia. 

In the early part of 1872 he introduced a bill in the Senate, 
which afterward became a law, saving to the bankrupt of Virginia 
and several other Southern States $2,000 and upward. The Court 
of Appeals of Virginia and Hon. Alexander Rives, United States 
District Judge, declared it unconstitutional. At the commence- 
ment of the third session of the Forty-second Congress, a bill passed 
the House declaratory of Lewis's bill of 1ST2. When the bill was 
sent to the Senate. Senator Lewis labored incessantly until he se- 
cured a favorable report from the Judiciary Committee, and the 
passage of the bill. Senator Pool, a member of the Judiciary 
Committee, in a recently published letter, thus refers to the in- 
fluence by which the bill became a law: "Senator Lewis was far 
more zealous and active in the matter than any other Senator. 
Always earnest and persistent, especially in whatever pertains to 
the interest of the people in his own State, he was pre-eminently 
so in this matter. I have never known a Senator to urge any 
measure more strenuously ami earnestly than he did this, not only 
while pending in the Senate, but during the time the approval of 
the President was in doubt. Certainly no one deserves more 
credit than he does for the success of the measure after it left the 
House of Representatives. I take no part in any contest for credit 
in securing the passage of this measure, so humane and beneficent 
to our people in the Southern States. I think it was advocated by 
every Senator and Representative from the South ; but Senator 
Lewis and the Representatives from Virginia pressed it with espe- 
cial earnestness and activity." 

With sterling common sense, great industry, and unbending in- 
tegrity, Mr. Lewis has rendered service in the Senate which is as 
useful to his State and country as it is honorable to himself. 
236 




A A f: 



t-oaa)- 






DANIEL D. PRATT. 



JANIEL D. PRATT was born in Palermo, Maine, October 
20, 1813. His father emigrated to central New York 
when the subject of this sketch was but a year old. The 
son of a country physician, he was raised on a farm, and 
inured to the hardy pursuits of country life. He graduated at 
Hamilton College in 1S31, and in the year following removed to 
Indiana. He first applied himself to school-teachiug in Lawrence- 
burgh, and was subsequenjjy for a few months Principal of a 
seminary in Rising Sun. Having engaged in the occupation of 
teacher to obtain the means of prosecuting the study of the law, at 
the end of a year lie resigned his position, to the great regret of 
both patrons and pupils, and went to Indianapolis, where he 
entered the law office of Calvin Fletcher. When his school earn- 
ings were expended he supported himself by odd jobs of writing 
during the legislative sessions, assisting in the office of the Secre- 
tary of State. He was subsequently appointed Quartermaster- 
General by Governor Noble, with a salary of fifty dollars a year. 
In March, 1836, he removed to Logansport, where he has since 
resided. At that time this was a village of about eight hundred 
inhabitants, affording but little business for lawyers. Mr. Pratt's 
earnings for the first year amounted to but three or four hundred 
dollars; but his business increased by degrees, and, journeying on 
horseback from one county to another during the sessions of Court, 
he practiced law through most of the northern half of the State. 
He devoted himself closely to his profession, and was soon 
regarded as one of the ablest lawyers in the State. 

Mr. Pratt was a Whig during the lifetime of that party, and 
took a deep interest in its success. He was always ready to 
237 



2 DANIEL D. PRATT. 

advocate its cause or speak in its defense, but rather declined than 
sought its honors. Devoted to his profession, he had very little 
aspiration for political preferment ; but in 1847, having been 
nominated for Congress by his party, he canvassed a district 
embracing nearly all the State lying north of rhe Wabash River, 
but was defeated by about four hundred majority. The next year, 
being a candidate for Presidential Elector, he canvassed the same 
district with Dr. Fitch, afterward United States Senator. In 1856 
he was again a candidate for Elector, and made a canvass in the 
interest of the Fremont ticket. 

Mr. Pratt was several times a member of the State Legislature, 
accepting the position not from any desire to occupy political 
place, but at the instance of personal friends of all parties who 
desired the enactment of good laws, and knew that he was well 
qualified for such a duty. The Whig, and afterward the Repub- 
lican, party would have given him the nomination for Governor 
on more than one occasion, bul he always discouraged any move- 
ment in that direction. 

lie was elected a Representative to the Forty-first Congress by 
a majority of 2,287, hut before taking his seat was elected by the 
Legislature of Indiana to the United States Senate as a Repub- 
lican, to succeed Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks, Democrat, for the 
term of six years ending March •">, 1S75. 

Taking his seat in the Senate at the opening of the Forty-first 
Congress, Mr. Pratt was appointed a member of the Committee on 
Pensions and the Committee on Claims. To his Committee work 
he applied himself with the same assiduity which had marked his 
application to his profession. During the second and third sessions 
of the Forty-first Congress he made no less than seventy-two re- 
ports from his Committees, which were ordered by the Senate to be 
printed. lie made able and elaborate speeches on Admiralty 
Jurisdiction, on the Payment of War Losses, and on the Rights of 
the Settlers on the Public Lands. This latter speech, though brief, 
was replete with legal and historical learning pertaining to the 
important subject. 

238 



DANIEL D. PRATT. 3 

Iii the last mentioned speech Mr. Pratt illustrated a point under 
consideration by the following reference to his own State : 

" You know, sir, that she is the smallest of the States admitted 
into the Union under the Federal Constitution, except Vermont. 
Y.m know that she was not admitted into the family of States until 
1816; that her political age is less than that of many Senators 
upon this floor. It was my fortune to settle in that State in an 
early day, and in that part of it where the public surveys had but 
recently been extended. Indeed, the Indian title to large bodies 
of land was extinguished in my neighborhood after I took up my 
residence there. I know, therefore, from experience the kind of 
men who first aecpiire a foothold in a new country. I know their 
enterprise and their hardships. I know their wealth of muscle, of 
strength, and courage, and hope. It is almost their only wealth. 
" I have witnessed the laying of the foundations of society. I 
have seen great and wealthy communities grow up from the rude 
beginnings of the pioneer settlers; and I know, bit, that there is 
no class of men more deserving the fostering care of the Govern- 
ment than these." 

Mr. Pratt also spoke at length on the Ku-Klux outrages in the 
South, and the Constitutional power of Congress to extend protec- 
tion to oppressed Union men there. He gave a graphic picture of 
the causes which led to the disordered state of the South, and a 
startling review of the evidence which proved the prevalence of 
Ku-Klux organizations, and the atrocity of their crimes in all the 
recently rebellious States. As a remedy he was in favor of making 
"the property holders, the men of means, who live in the localities 
where these outrages occur, responsible for them to the sufferers or 
their survivors; in other words, to hold their estates liable for the 
loss of life and property through the operations of this Ku-Kluk 
order." 

On the 9th of May, 1S72, Mr. Pratt addressed the Senate in 

favor of the Amnesty bill, not in a spirit of charity or as an act of 

pistice, but as a "measure of expediency, demanded at this time by 

wise statesmanship." One of his ablest and most elaborate speeches 

239 



4 DANIEL D. PRATT. 

was delivered on the 17th of May, 1S72, in favor of an act to con- 
tinue in the President of the United States the power of suspending 
the privileges of the writ of habeas corpus to the end of the next 
session of Congress. None of the speeches called forth by this and 
kindred subjects abound in stronger statement of facts or more 
powerful arguments. lie declared that no one had been hurt by 
the denial of this writ of habeas corpus except the criminal men 
whom the courts had been able to punish by reason of its suspen- 
sion. His broad and practical statesmanship, rising above the 
narrow view of the mere technical lawyer, appears most distinctly 
in the closing sentiment: "We shall never do violence to this 
sacred instrument, while in the future, as in the past, we legislate 
to secure to all, and everywhere, the blessings of life, liberty, and 
the pursuit of happiness." 

Mr. Pratt's speech of March 2, Is7i>, in favor of releasing to the 
State of [ndiana certain reclaimed lands, was a masterly argument 
upon the question where the proprietary interest and municipal 
jurisdiction reside, in the case of the beds of our lakes and rivers 
which have been reclaimed after the lands on their banks and 
margins have been sold. This speech, which was successful in se- 
curing the object -ought, was but one of many instances to show 
his watchfulness over tin- interests of his State. 

In personal appearance Mi-. Pratt is remarkable, his physical 
proportions approaching the gigantic. His mind and heart are in 
just and full proportion with his body. Having devoted many 
years to the successful pursuit of his profession, his tastes run in 
that direction rather than in the line of politics. It is with him a 
matter of principle faithfully to discharge every duty. There is 
not a man in public life who is more industrious and who daily 
devotes more hours to official duties. In moral character he is 
without a stain, and in all respects is worthy to be mentioned 
among the best statesmen of our day. 



240 








i /l I 



I I 



J 



CAEL SCHURZ. 



tjTi^K?^ SCHUEZ was born at Liblar, a village near Cologne, 
X^Jj on the Rhine, where his father was teacher, on the 2d of 
l 7y&ji March, 1S29. After having finished the preliminary 
course of studies prescribed by the laws of Prussia, he 
entered the University of Bonn. His studies were soon inter- 
rupted by the outbreak of the revolution of 1848. The political 
state of Germany at that time was unsatisfactory in a high degree. 
The public mind universally demanded constitutional liberty and 
the unity of the country. The contest for these priceless blessings 
was going on in Germain' when the French Eevolution made chaos 
of continental Western Europe, which promised to be followed by 
the day of liberty and unity. 

No wonder that the German youth supported these movements 
with all the enthusiasm and ardor peculiar to that stage of life. 
Schurz soon joined the circle of devoted friends of liberty which 
collected around Professor Kinkel of Bonn, one of the best known 
poets of his day. " Unity and liberty " was the watchword of the 
great mass of the people ; the form under which both might be 
secured best was subject to controversy, and dependent in a large 
measure on the course of events. This course proved little satis- 
factory in Germany. The Constitutional Assembly of Germany had 
at last finished a constitution for the country when the great pow- 
ers of Germany and some of the small ones turned against it. At 
this critical moment Southwestern Germany rose in arms for the 
new Constitution, which alone seemed to promise the achievement 
of liberty and unity. Supporters from other parts of Germany 
joined the movement, among them Kinkel and Schurz. The latter 
entered the army, took part in some engagements, and was taken 
241 



2 CARL SCIIURZ. 

prisoner at Rastadt, together with his teacher, Kinkel. He, how- 
ever, found means to escape from the fortress, while his beloved 
teacher was condemned to death, and afterward pardoned to im- 
prisonment for life. Schurz, an exile in Switzerland, determined 
to liberate his friend, who at that time was kept at a prison near 
Berlin. With great danger to himself he went to Berlin and ac- 
complished the difficult task. In November, 1850, he landed 
safely with Kinkel in England. At that time his name became 
first known in Germany. 

Schurz remained after that several years in England, a careful 
observer and diligent student of political life and science. Seeing 
no good prospects for the realization of his political ideas in Europe 
lie determined to emigrate to America, where he arrived in 1852. 
That year saw the memorable campaign in which the Whigs, 
under General Scott, were so utterly routed that the party broke 
up entirely. The succeeding abolition of the Missouri Compromise 
put an end to the truce which for more than thirty years had kept 
at peace the discordant elements of the Union. The formation of 
the Republican party was the result, coming out of the seething 
chaldron at that time. To the enthusiastic heart and the keen 
observation of Schurz it was equally clear which party he had to 
join. Thus we find him an ardent Republican from the start. 
From Philadelphia, where he had lived the first years after his 
arrival in America, he had gone to Watertown, Wisconsin, and 
settled there with his family on a farm, all the time, however, 
studying politics and the English language. 

The defeat of the Republican party in 1856 had nothing dis- 
couraging in it, and the organization went on with great zeal and 
vigor. Mr. Schurz at that time had mastered the English lan- 
guage to such a degree that he could undertake to speak publicly 
in English. The power of his logical argumentation and the 
artistic finish of his speeches arrested public attention at once. 
He immediately counted among the most prominent speakers of 
the Republican party. He ran as Lieutenant-Governor on the 
Republican ticket in 1859, and when defeated there he became 
242 



CARL SCHURZ. 3 

clerk of the Legislature. In I860 he was a member of the Nom- 
inating Convention at Chicago, exerting his influence for the nom- 
ination of Mr. Seward. The convention, in recognition of his tal- 
ents and services, made him a member of the National Republican 
Committee. Thus he was enabled to exert great influence in the 
election of Mr. Lincoln, and to be instrumental in shaping public 
opinion and preparing it for the great trial which was in store for the 
nation. When the Rebellion broke out Schurz offered to enter the 
army and to fight as a soldier for those principles of liberty and 
union of which he had shown himself such an able champion on the 
tribune. Mr. Lincoln chose to send him as Minister to Spain. The 
defeat of the national arms did not permit him to stay quietly 
at Madrid and to enjoy there the leisure and emoluments of his 
position. In midwinter he crossed the ocean to offer again his 
services as a soldier for the Union. Mr. Lincoln acceded to his 
wishes, and made him a Brigadier-General of volunteers. He 
participated as such in the battles which the Army of the Potomac 
fought in 1862. The next year he was made Major-General, and 
fought at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg!]. In the succeeding 
year he served with his troops in the Southwest. 

After his return to America Mr. Schurz was on terms of inti- 
macy and friendship with Mr. Lincoln, which position he consci- 
entiously used for promoting the best interests of the country. 
The abolition of slavery as a war measure was a foregone conclu- 
sion with Mr. Schurz when he returned from Europe, and he im- 
proved every opportunity to convince Mr. Lincoln of this. In an 
address in the Cooper Institute in New York he forcibly spoke to 
the same purpose. In 1864 he took an active part in the cam- 
paign for the re-election of Mr. Lincoln. 

When peace came in 1865 he was sent by President Johnson to 
investigate and report on the state of the South. When the able 
report was ready the mind of the President had undergone such a 
change that it was received by him in a very different mood from 
that in which it had been ordered. 

In the important winter of 1865-66 Mr. Schurz was the chief 
243 



-t CARLSCnURZ. 

correspondent of the "New York Tribune'' in Washington, and 
as such aided in fixing the public opinion of the North in respect 
to Johnson's administration. 

In the spring of 1866 he became chief editor of a new Repub- 
lican paper in Detroit, Michigan ; but after a short time exchanged 
tin's position for that of one of the proprietors and editors of the 
leading German Republican paper of Missouri, the " Westliche 
Post" of St. Louis. 

Missouri, by her geographical position and her history, is one 
of those States of the South which had to be reclaimed first for a 
new life. Mr. Schurz in going there meant to assist in this work 
of national importance. 

In the fall of 1868 the Legislature of Missouri elected him a 
Senator in Congress. He entered the Senate on the 4th of March, 
1869. Always earnest in his political convictions, he has stood up 
for them and worked for them in the new arena open for him with 
the greatest industry and with entire independence. His endeav- 
ors for civil service reform and for amnesty for the South are well 
known to the country by the speeches he made on them. 

He was appointed a member of the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs, and as such took a conspicuous part in opposing the an- 
nexation of Dominica. In opposition to this scheme he delivered, 
on the 28th and 29th of March, 1871, a very elaborate speech, 
which was heard by a great concourse of visitors, and received at 
its close the unfrequent and disallowed compliment of "applause 
in the galleries." 

On the 20th of September, 1871, Mr. Schurz made a speech in 
the capitol at Nashville, in which he pronounced in favor of uni- 
versal amnesty, and recommended the organization of an independ- 
ent party in opposition to Grant's renomination. This speech 
created a profound impression in political circles. The most sig- 
nificant incident connected with it was a letter formally addressed 
to Mr. Schurz, signed by several hundred Confederate soldiers', em- 
bracing every grade and rank from privates and non-commissioned 
244 



CARL SCIIURZ. 5 

officers up to major-generals. They expressed their admiration for 
the "patriotic address," their faith in the republic, their respect for 
the flag, and their wish to ally themselves with any party that 
would he animated by the spirit of toleration and a broad patriot- 
ism not bounded by State lines. Mr. Schurz replied in an eloquent 
letter, in which he said that spontaneous expression of such senti- 
ments as their letter contained might " well be called an event of 
great significance in the history of our days." lie soon followed 
this advocacy of amnesty on the stump by a powerful speech in 
the Senate, advocating the removal of political disabilities. 

A resolution having been introduced by Mr. Sumner providing 
for an investigation into the sale of arms to French agents durin" 
the war between France and Germany, Mr. Schurz supported it in 
two speeches, delivered February 20 and February 27^1872. He 
was requested by the committee appointed under tin's resolution to 
be present during the investigation, and after the presentation of 
their report he made another elaborate speech, 'May 31,) in which 
he said " he would not with Mr. Sumner call it 'a whitewashing 
report, 5 for," said he, " all the colors of the rainbow are heaped so 
thick and heavy in this document upon truth and reason that the 
whole subject in question disappears under the monstrous accumu- 
lation of paint." 

The course pursued by Mr. Schurz in the Senate led to an open 
breach with the Republican Administration. lie took sides with 
the Liberal Republicans, and ably advocated the election of Ho 
Greeley in numerous speeches on the stump, in nearly all parts of 
the country. The first of this series of speeches was delivered in 
St. Louis, July 22. 1S72, in which he gave an impressive picture of 
the evils of personal government, and a review of the failures, blun- 
ders, and crimes of the Administration. 

The campaign was characterized by much personal bitterne 
especially against such prominent Republicans as joined in the Lib- 
eral movement. Mr. Schurz was a most 3onspicnous mark. The 
New York Times contained a long and labored article full of charg a 
against him, to which he replied in the Senate, lie closed 1 \ say- 
24."» 



6 CARLS C HUEZ. 

ing: "If attacks should come as thick as locusts, they will uot 
frighten me away from that course which I conscientiously believe 
to be the course of honor, truth, right, and duty." 

The element of resistance is strong in Mr. Sehurz. He takes to 
revolution as the most legitimate form of intellectual activity. He 
is a laborious student, and has a high appreciation of culture wher- 
ever seen. He many years ago conceived a high admiration for the 
scholarship of Charles Sumner, ami has been his steadfast friend in 
the Senati — the two evidently having a great mutual influence upon 
one another. 

Hi- wife, who is daughter of a Hamburg banker, is one of the 
finest specimens of German womeu in America. She met Sehurz 

in London when he-was a poor exile there, living uj remittances 

from home ami from lence with German journals, and 

sympathized with liim and loved him. She is a dark-haired, dark- 
eyed woman, of mild and pleasant countenance. Both arc strong 
in their attachment to the German manner and German country. 
They prefer to give their children a German education. 

Mi-. Sehurz is a man of great boldness of character, backed by the 
finest talents. He is not without humor, hut it is of the grim, severe 
quality chiefly exercised in satire. As an orator ho is grave and 

i latic. [n the S lie is unequaled in direct, pointed 

attack, and in skillful, graceful vel Ho displays as much 

familiarity with our language and history as with those ^\' Ger- 
many and France. 

I!,- is in the prime of vigorous life. In person ho is tall, round- 
shouldered, spare, and graceful. He lias a muscular, active, and 
vital frame; all his movements are quick' and vigorous. His face, 
which i- long in the nose and jaw. is rather Mephistophelean in 
expression. His hair is of a brownish auburn, his heard is blonde, 
and his eves a strong gray, lie ha- reached the highest position 
attainable in the United State- by a citizen of foreign birth. His 
career, so versatile and so adventurous, is among the most remark- 
able in this country of stirring live- and startling successes. 
246 




^i/^^\ 




JOHX SCOTT. 



^'S^OHN SCOTT was born in Alexandria, Huntingdon Coun- 
,('\?k t . v - Pennsylvania, July 14, 1824. His ancestry on both 
-i<l<- was Scotch-Irish. His father was a Major of volun- 
teers in the War of 1812, and a member of the Twenty- 
first Congress from Pennsylvania. To his son he gave the i i- 

mon-school education afforded by his native town, the advantages 
of private teachers of Greek and Latin, and an early introduction 
to practical business life. He soon evinced a talent for public 
Bpeating, acquiring before his eighteenth year quite a local repu- 
tation among the advocates of the Wasbingtonian temperance 
movement. Choosing the legal profession,- he entered, in 1842, the 
office of Hon. Alexander Thomson, of Qhambersbnrg, Pa., and in 
January, 1846, was admitted to the bar. He immediately com- 
menced practice in Huntingdon, Pa., his present residence, was 
appointed Deputy Attorney General for that county, and held that 
position for several years. He rose rapidly in his profession, and 
Boon ranked with the ablest lawyers in the district. In 1851 Mr. 
Scott was appointed a member of the Board of Revenue Commis- 
sioners, and, although the youngest member, took an active part in 
its proceedings, serving on its most important committees. As a 
member of the Democratic State Convention in 1852 he led the 
opposition to Mr. Buchanan's nomination for the Presidency, ami 
was the author of a vigorous protest against the mod'.' of electing 
delegates favorable to him. Threatened with tailing health, he vis- 
ited Europe in 1853, and returned much benefited by his travels. 
In 1S54 he was nominated by the Citizens' Convention for the ' 
Legislature, and refusing adherence to the " Know Nothings," who 
organized after his nomination, was by them defeated. As soon as 
Mr. Buchanan announced his Kansas policy Mr. Scott took decided 
ground against him. In I860 lie was nominated as a Douglas 
247 



2 JOHN SCOTT. 

Democrat for the State Senate, the District being overwhelmingly 
Republican. In the following year both parties requested him to 
serve in the House of Representatives, and consenting, he was 
elected without opposition, although his party was largely in the 
minority in the county. He made an attempt to organize the House 
without distinction of party, pledging Pennsylvania to the cordial 
support of the General Government in the suppression of the rebel- 
lion. This the Democratic Caucus declined, and he and ether War 
Democrats acted with the Republicans in the organization. lie 
served as Chairman of the Judiciary Committee during the session, 
and declined a re-election. Although not a politician, in the usual 
sense of that term, he participated actively in political campaigns, 
advocating Governor Cm-tin's election in 1863, and supporting Mr. 
Lincoln for President in 1864. He was elected a Delegate to the 
Republican National Convention in 1868, but had his place filled 
by his alternate, being detained in the Supreme Court to argue a 
ea e involving the constitutionality of a. law of the State disfran- 
chising deserters -a question in which political parties took a. deep 
interest. 

Taking an active part in the canvass of that year, public atten- 
tion was directed to him as a candidate for the United States Sen- 
ate. When the Legislature met he was elected to succeed Air. 
Buckalew, and took his scat .March 4, 18<>!>. He was assigned to 
the Committees on Claims Pacific Railroad.-, and Naval Affairs. 
Hi- senatorial record allows him to he an attentive, industrious, 
and able member of that body. In the last session of this Con- 
gress he was appointed Chairman of the Select Committee to 
investigate the alleged outrages in the Southern States. lie first 
spoke in the Senate upon the bill to repeal the " Tenure-of-Office 
Act. -1 He has since spoken in review of Commissioner Wells's 
Report; upon the admission of Virginia to representation; upon 
the eligibility of Mr. Revels and General Ames to seats in the Sen- 
ate ; upon the Funding Bill ; in advocacy of the repeal of the 
Income Tax, and upon other subjects. His speeches are generally 
brief, sensible, and without attempt at ornament. 
248 



J O II N SCOT T. 3 

Mr. Scott opposed the repeal of the Civil Tenure Act : " We 
have," said he, " tins principle given to us now, a most valu- 
able principle in the administration of this Government, which 
prevents the President from exerting a power which in the 
hands of a bad man, with the immense patronage at his command, 
would be the absolute control of all the offices. Shall we surrender 
it ? I say no. Incorporate it in whatever legislation you may 
have, and that principle is of more importance to us for the future 
of this country than any mere question of temporary convenience 
about men either getting into office or getting out of office." 

One of Mr. Scott's best speeches on the floor of the Senate was 
bis Memorial Address on the life and character of his friend, 
Hon. John Covode, (Representative from the Twelfth Congres- 
sional District of Pennsylvania,) delivered February 10, l s 71. 
Referring to the traits of character, public and private, which dis- 
tinguished the deceased, he said : 

He was not a man of learning; he was a man of intellect. It was not tliat 
cultivated intellect which often leads men to be mere thinkers, whose thoughts 
end in dreams and are sometimes afterward caught up and made practical In 
the earnest workers of the world. His was that busy, practical brain which 
made him a man of action, a type of the untiring working men who are making 
their mark upon this active century, who study their fellow-men more than 
books, and who are indispensable to the earnest thinkers of the ai 
thinkers and earnest workers need each other. Earnest thought is earnest 
work in one sense, but not in all senses. The earnest thought of the com- 
mander who plans a campaign or maps out a battle-field may be earnest work 
for him; but it is not that kind of earnest work which carries forts and routs 
opposing armies. The men who do this kind of earnest work should li\e in 
history, as well as those who plan it and direct it to be done. 

I saw recently a huge painting of the battle of Gettysburg, ordered by the 
Stale of Pennsylvania. It represents the pinch of the fight- — the repulse of 
Pickett's charge. Its central figure is a private Union soldier — tall, muscul r. 
with all the energy of determined action apparent in every feature and in 
every limb — with a musket clenched frantically in his hands, and drawn to 
strike an assailant. He seems to lie the teal leader of all who are behind him. 
The commanding generals are in the dim distance. I thought, as I looked 
upon it, that the men of action are, in our day, coming to the front. ... If a 
man's life has not impressed his fellow-men his funeral will not. But his 
funeral may tell how his life has impressed them; and, standing there, no man 
could doubt the sincerity of tiie sorrow which his death had occasioned among 
those who knew him best. A bad man could not be so mourned. 
249 



4 JOHN SCOTT. 

Having introduced an amendment putting tea and coffee on the 
tree list, Mr. Scott, in advocating this measure on the 15th of March, 
1872, made a most able am! exhaustive speech on tin- Tariff, lie 
presented the argument in favor of protection to home manufactures 
with an elaborate array of facts ami figures. Having been placed 
in a position where the operation of the disqualifications of the 
Fourteenth Amendment were forced upou his attention, he gave it 
as his opinion, in a speech before the Senate, December 20, 1871, 
that it would be the part of wisdom to remove these disabilities. 

One of Mr. Scott's most distinguishing labors in the Senate was 
his voluminous report — the result of much labor — on the alleged 
outrages in the South. On the 17th of May, 1872, lie delivered an 
able am! extended speech, based on thi> report, advocating the ex- 
tension of the Ku-Klux Act. " Others," said lie in closing, "may 
hesitate upon tin- subject, I cannot. Government was instituted 
to protect it> citizens, and we shall be derelict to our duty if we 
permit the more than four millions of citizens in the South, against 
whom this conspiracy has been formed, to be subject for a day to 
great calamities, and subject to them at a time, too, when the 
stron.: es will be operating for the infliction of just such 

outrages a- those I have described." 

In the Senate Mr. Scott has full} tilled the prediction made by 
the Pittsburg at the time of his election : "Beinga lawyer 

eat depth and acute discernment, it may naturally be suppo I 
that lie will soon take a trout rank with the' foremost in (Jon. 
particularly in questions involving international law, and the interest 
and protection of home manufactures, a subject in which lie is well 
informed, and entertains broad and favorable views." 

In private life he has been an active and leading spirit in all the 
prominent enterprises of his neighborhood. lie was an original 
member of the Huntingdon and Broad Top Railroad, gave freely 
of his means, and labored assiduously for the success of the enter- 
prise, and has lived to see his labors crowned with success. 
250 



JOHN P. STOCKTON. 



1 '-■. jl 'OlIX P. STOCKTON was born in Princeton, New Jer- 
sey, August '2, 1826. His ancestors were distinguished in 
^ the history of the country. His great-grandfather was one 
of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. His 
grandfather and his father preceded him in the Senate of the 
United States, the latter having previously won distinction as an 
officer in the navy. 

The subject of this sketch graduated at Princeton College in 
1843. He studied law, was licensed to practice in 1846, and came 
to the bar in 1849. lie was appointed by the Legislature of New 
Jersey a commissioner to revise the laws of the State. He was 
subsequently for several years Reporter to the Court of Chancery, 
and published three volumes of equity reports which bear his 
name. He was appointed by President Buchanan Minister Resi- 
dent To Rome, and was recalled at his own request in 1861. He 
then devoted himself to his profession until 1SG5, when he was 
elected a United States Senator from New Jersey. After he had 
held this position for more than a year his election was declared by 
the Senate to have been informal, and he was unseated. He was 
subsequently again elected to the Senate as a Democrat to sui 
Hon. Frederick T. Frelinghuysen, and took his scat March 4, 
1869. He was assigned to the Committees on Appropriations, 
Naval Affairs, and Ventilation. 

Among the early speeches of Mr. Stockton was a brief address 

against the bill authorizing Virginia, Mississippi, and Texas to 

submit their Constitutions to a vote of the people, amended by the 

requirement to ratify the Fifteenth Amendment, and he insisted 

251 



2 JOHN P. STOCKTON. 

that by such an enforced ratification that amendment could never 
become a part of the Constitution of the country. Of the same 
tenor was his speech pending the bill to promote the reconstruction 
of Georgia. 

In his remarks upon the bill for enforcing the Fifteenth Amend- 
ment he discountenanced that measure as unnecessary, and argued 
that the amendment would enforce itself— that every good citizen 
would see to its enforcement. At the same time, while he thought 
it would be wise to pass no act, he would raise no opposition to a 
fair bill for the purpose specified. 

In connection with the consideration of the Legislative Appro- 
priation liill came the following interesting remarks from Mr. 
Stockton touching the national capital : 

The Senator from California complains that there is not a public square in 
this city except one which U creditable to show to anj stranger, and in saying 
that la- says but the truth ; but why is this so ? It is because gentlemen come 
here, as ho does now, and resist appropriations which are necessary to improve 
these grounds and make available the large sums already invested. 

The city of Washington now contains many magnificent buildings which will 
compare with the buildings in many of the "Id capitals of Europe, and it wants 
nothing in the world but a little proper investment of money at the present 
time to become an ornament to this country, a city of which we may be proud. 
We want the streets properly paved. We want this investmenl not for mere 

pleasure grounds to recreate in. as has been said in this debate, but for the 
health ot the people; and in addition t i that, in order that all the people of 
the country may feel thai proper pride in the capital of the country that they 
ought to feel. 

Gentlemen make themselves prophets, and predict in a solemn way that 
this capital must be moved. I know there are men whose policy and whose 
polities and wdiose statesmanship consist in moving landmarks. I trust that 
the Senator from California will not join that party. There is no bh-sing pro- 
nounced on those who move landmarks. I believe in holding on to all the 
landmarks that our fathers have made, and one of the most sacred of those is 
the place where they located this capital. . . . 

Mr. President, I wish that not only the members of the Legislatures who have 
passed resolutions in favor of moving the capital, but all the agitators of this 
movement, could stand on the heights of Arlington and watch the setting sun 
reflected from the dome of our Capitol. Let them turn their faces to Mecca 
when they worship; let them not forget Jerusalem, although they wander in 
stranoe lands. Let not strength ami manhood Paget the parent that cherished 
its infancy, but rather let all unite in a permanent determination that at least 
this old landmark shall not be removed. 



ALLEX G. THUEMAK 




j. -LLEN G. THURMAN was horn in Lynchburg, Virginia, 
November 13, 1S13. His paternal ancestors for two liun- 
v^Tf 3 dred years were citizens of Virginia, he being of the sixtli 
generation of his family born in the " Old Dominion." 
His paternal grandfather was a soldier of the Revolution, serving 
during the war. His mother was daughter of Colonel Nathaniel 
Allen, of North Carolina, nephew and adopted son of Joseph 
Hewes, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, 
who, as Chairman of the Naval Committee during the first years 
of the Revolution, performed the duties which have since devolved 
on the Secretary of the Navy. 

In 1819 Mr. Thurman removed to Ohio, where he obtained an 
academic education. He studied law with Senator "William Allen 
and Judge Swayne, now a Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
United States. He was admitted to the bar in 1835, and entered 
at once into a large and successful practice. He immediately took 
high rank at the bar, where he was brought into competition with 
lawyers of such ability as Henry Stanbery, Thomas Ewing, and 
Judge Hunter. 

Mr. Thurman never sought, but rather avoided, office. His first 
office, that of Representative in the Twenty-ninth Congress, was 
thrust upon him, much against his inclination. He had declined 
to be a candidate, but when absent from the State he was nomi- 
nated, and was elected by nearly four hundred majority in a district 
which had in the previous canvass elected the Whig candidate by 
a majority almost as large. In the Twenty-ninth Congress Mr. 
Thurman was a member of the Judiciary Committee, and took an 
active part in the proceedings, participating prominently in the 
2-33 



2 ALLEN G. THURMAN. 

debates of the House. lie made effective speeches on the Mexi- 
can War and the Oregon Question, the subjects of overshadowing 
importance in that day. 

Mr. Thurman declined a re-election, and, at the close of a single 
term in Congress, returned to the practice of his profession. In 
the first election under the new Constitution of Ohio in 1S51 Mr. 
Thurman was elected Judge of the Supreme Court, running two 
thousand votes ahead of his party in the State, and nine hundred 
ahead in his own county. He was Judge of the Supreme Court 
four vears — during the last two years, from 1854 to 1856, serving 
a- Chief-Justice. In 1867 Mr. Thurman was the Democratic can- 
didate for Governor of Ohio, and lacked less than three thousand 
votes of being elected, although the Republican majority the year 
before was forty-three thousand in the State. 

The Democratic party having carried the Legislature of Ohio, 
Mr. Thurman was elected a Senator of the United States to suc- 
ceed Hon. Benjamin F. Wade, and took his seat March 4, 1869, 
fortlie term ending in 1875. lie was a member of the Committee 
on the Judiciary, the Committee on Post-Offices, and the Joint 
Select Committee on Retrenchment. 

Mr. Thurman was at once recognized as one of the strong men 
of the Senate, anil the loader of liir- party in that body. He is 
extremely vigilant and faithful — watching with careful eye all the 
proceedings — a frequent speaker, ready, clear, persistent, and strong 
in debate; courteous in his hearing, and generally evincing perfect 
candor and respect toward his opponents and their opinions, while, 
with a masterly ability, he asserts and advocates his own views. 
254 




^£c- . £. Ad^^\s t 



MOEGAJN" C. HAMILTON. 




'0jfi ORGAN C. HAMILTON" was born in the territory 
now within the limits of Alabama, near Huntsville, 
H&C? February 25, 1809. His boyhood was spent in severe 
manual labor, interrupted at rare intervals by brief at- 
tendance at country schools, in which he obtained little more than 
the mere rudiments of education, lie obtained a situation in a 
country store, where he gained practical knowledge of business. 

When eighteen years old, being of a stirring and adventurous 
temperament, he naturally fell in with the tide which swept so 
many young men to the far South-west, where Texas was struggling 
for recognition as a republic. Being capable and of good address, 
he attracted the notice of the authorities, and two years after his 
arrival was appointed to a clerkship in the War Department. It 
is proof of his capacity and perseverance, that amid the constantly 
shifting scenes of those days he held this position until April, 1845. 
During the last three of these years he was acting Secretary of 
War. The responsibilities of this position were second to nunc, 
as the infant republic and nascent State was just then passing 
through its "baptism of tire." 

Entering so early into public life, and having no ordinary capac- 
ities for managing affairs, Mr. Hamilton might have continued to 
be an incumbent of office, and might have reached the highest 
places, but he chose another path. He went into retirement, and 
devoted himself entirely to private business. In this he was very 
successful, acquiring within a few years vast tracts of land and im- 
mense herds of cattle. When the rebellion broke out Mr. Ham- 
ilton refused to take part in the war against the Union. He was 
stern in his denunciation of the secessionists, and bold in declaring 
25 5 



2 MORGAN C. HAMILTON. 

himself in favor of the United States, although such proceeding 
was at the peril of his life and property. His very boldness saved 
him, while others, no less true but more moderate in their avowals, 
perished. 

The war over, and the Government having reasserted its author- 
ity, his services were needed to aid in the restoration of law and 
order, and he promptly rendered them. In 1867 he was appointed 
Comptroller of the Treasury of Texas by the commander of the 
Fifth Military District. He was one of the most active and effi- 
cient members of the Convention of 1SG8, which framed a new 
Constitution for Texas. Tbe State at last being ready for restora- 
tion tn representation in Congress, Mr. Hamilton was elected to 
the United States Senate as a Republican. He was admitted to 
his seat March 31, 1870, and was appointed on the committees on 
Indian Affairs, Revolutionary Claims, and the Select Committee on 
the Removal of Political Disabilities. 

lie immediately took a prominent part in the discussion and 
proceedings. Soon after his admission he delivered a speech, in 
which he urged that the Government should give protection to the 
only friends and supporters it bad in nearly one half of its peopled 
territory. He made the startling statement that " not less than 
ten thousand hearts have ceased to beat, within tbe limits of the 
late Confederacy, since the surrender of Lee's army, simply because 
they were true to the Government." He showed that the small 
number of arrests and convictions was as " incredible as the very 
large number of homicides committed." 

Mr. Hamilton sympathized with the Liberal Republican move- 
ment, a fact which somewhat modified the tone of his later speeches. 
We find him, on the 21st of May, 1872, making a speech in the 
Senate against the bill to extend the Kuklux act, which he pro- 
nounced the most objectionable of the legislation enacted for the 
government of the Southern States. 

256 



JAMES L. ALCOBX. 




? AMES L. ALCORX was born in Golconda, Illinois, 
November 4, 1816. He was taken when a child to 



Kentucky, and there grew up to manhood. He was 
educated at Cumberland College in that State, and sub" 
sequently taught school iu Jackson, Arkansas. Having been 
offered the position of deputy sheriff (if Livingston County, Ken- 
tucky, he returned to that State. Here he soon afterward married, 
studied law, and obtained a license as an attorney. Elected as a 
Whig to the Legislature of Kentucky, in 1813, he resigned the 
office of sheriff, and took his seat at Frankfort. At the close of 
the first session of the Legislature, putting his family and goods on 
board a flat-boat, lie floated down the Ohio on his way to a new 
home in Mississippi, landing at Delta, in the county of Coahoma. 
Having purchased a small tract of land near the town he placed 
his family upon it, and soon afterward opened an office in Delta 
for the practice of law. 

Mr. Alcorn had been but a few months in Coahoma when he 
was nominated by the Whigs of that county for the Legislature. 
Having been elected, he sat in either the upper or lower house of 
the Legislature of Mississippi for sixteen years of the twenty-six 
that have elapsed since his first election. At Jackson, while a 
member of the Legislature, he made the acquaintance of the accom- 
plished lady who became his second wife. He was nominated by 
the Whigs, in 1854, as their candidate for Governor, but declined. 
He ran for Congress in that year, but failed to overcome the large 
majority of the Democratic party in the district. In the Presiden- 
tial contest next succeeding he was the Scott elector for the State 
at large. 

In 1801 Mr. Alcorn was elected as a Unionist to the Convention 
257 



2 JAMES L. ALCORN. 

which withdrew the State from the Union. Forced by the hope- 
lessness of the straggle into submission to the fury of secession, 
Mr. Alcorn, with words of protest, cast his lot with his State. 
Appointed on the Military Board with Jefferson Davis and three 
others, be gave his services to the State for eighteen months. 
Finding bis personal relations with the chiefs of the Confederacy 
insuperable obstacles to his usefulness in the field, be returned to 
his plantation. Here he was captured by a force of Federals from 
Helena, and subsequently was released on parole. At the expira- 
tion of his parole he withdrew with his family within the Con- 
federate lines, and settled for a time on a place belonging to his 
father-in-law in Alabama. While sojourning here be was elected 
to the Legislature of Mississippi. 

At the close of the war Mr. Alcorn returned to his home in Coa- 
homa. He was elected to the Legislature of 1805, and by that 
body was chosen for the long term in the United States Senate, 
the short term being given to that distinguished jurist, Judge 
Sharkey. Refused admission by the Senate, Mr. Alcorn went 
home ami subsequently urged upon his people an acceptance of 
Congressional reconstruction. He declined, however, to join the 
Republicans. < m their defeat as proscriptionists, in 1868, he ac- 
cepted overtures from them on condition of their acceptance of a 
liberal platform. After a canvass of great excitement, he carried 
tbe Stale as nominee of the Republicans for Governor in 1809, by 
a majority of thirty-eight thousand. He declined the position of 
provisional Governor, offered him by the military commander, on 
the ground that be could not consent to rule over the people uuder 
an appointment by the military power. Inaugurated in March, 
1870, as Governor of Mississippi, elected by the people, lie did 
much for the restoration of peace and good-will by a mingled 
policy of conciliation and firmness. Having been elected to the 
Senate for the term ending March 3, 1S77, he resigned the execu- 
tive chair on the 30th of November, 1871, and took bis seat as 
United States Senator on the 4th of December following. 
258 



POWELL CLAYTON. 



i i&a MOXG- those who accompanied "William Penn in 1681 
- 1 -— . -^ from England, to assist in the peaceful settlement of 
^^^>3 Pennsylvania, was William Clayton, who with his family 
settled in what now is Delaware county of that State. Sixth in 
descent from William was John Clayton, who married Ann, daugh- 
ter of Captain George Clark, of the British army. To them, Au- 
gust 7, 1833, on the same spot that his ancestors for so many years 
had lived, was born Powell Clayton. lie spent liis youth on the 
paternal farm, which he did not leave until Lis twentieth year, 
when he entered the famous Military Academy of Captain Alden 
Partridge, at Bristol, Pennsylvania. Leaving that institution in 
ISM, he commenced the study of civil engineering at Wilmington, 
Delaware, under the auspiecs of Professor Sudler. 

In 1855, Mi-. Clayton emigrated t<> Kansas, where he soon attain- 
ed such professional proficiency and repute as to he chosen, in 1850, 
hy the people of Leavenworth, engineer and surveyor of that city. 
When Fort Sumter was" fired on, the governor of Kansas ordered 
Captain Clayton, with the militia company which he commanded, 
into camp near Fort Leavenworth. When the call was made for 
volunteers by President. Lincoln, the First Kansas Infantry was 
raised; Powell Clayton being mustered into the United States 
service as captain, May 29, 1861. 

This regiment was immediately ordered to Missouri, and was 
assigned to the command of the lamented Lyon, under whose 
leadership it participated in the battle of Wilson's Creek. The 
gallantry exhibited by Captain Clayton's company, which lost 
forty-nine out of seventy-four men, received official recognition. 
Their commander was appointed lieutenant-colonel of the Fifth 
Kansas Cavalry, and, soon after, the colonelcy of the same regi- 
ment was given him. 

259 



2 POWELL CLAYTON. 

Colonel Clayton subsequently marched with General Curtis to 
Helena, Arkansas, and aided in the repulse of the Confederate 
attack on that city. He participated in the capture of Little 
Rock, and was shortly afterwards assigned to the command of Pine 
Bluff, Arkansas. On the 25th of October, 18G3, General Mar- 
maduke, with four thousand men and twelve pieces of artillery, 
made a furious attack on Pine Bluff, which was gallantly 
repulsed by Colonel Clayton, with six hundred men and nine 
pieces of artillery, lie then made a movement in the direction 
of Montieello, Arkansas, and at Mount Elba defeated the 
division of General Dockery. Fur these achievements President 
Lincoln, in August, 1864, commissioned Clayton as a brigadier- 
general. He remained in command of Pine Bluff until August, 
1865, when lie was mustered cut of the service. 

Soon alter the return of peace, General Clayton married Miss 
McGraw, the daughter of an old citizen of Helena, Arkansas, 
and settled mi a plantation in Jefferson county, near Pine Bluff. 
In 1807, the question of a constitutional convention was sub- 
mitted to the people, and he canvassed the State in its favor. 
After the formation of a constitution, he was. in February, 186?, 
nominated for governor L\ the Republican State Convention. 
The campaign, which was very spirited, resulted in the adoption 
of the constitution and the election of General Clayton. 

On the 10th of January, 1871, Governor Clayton was elected 

to the United States Senate, receiving all the votes cast in the 

Legislature hut fourteen. He decided, however, not at that 

time to vacate the office of governor. He was re-elected on 

the 13th of March, and circumstances having changed, he 

accepted the honor. Resigning the office of State Executive, he 

took his seat iii the Senate of the United States on the 25th of 

March, 1871. 

260 




fo 



Z-u 



<&£TZ^ 



'cJL^c < 



HENRY COOPEP. 



7 ENRY COOPER was born in Columbia, Maury county, 
• '-T- Tennessee, August 22, 1827. He was educated at Jack- 
^ «^ son College, graduating August 11, 1847. He studied 
for tbc bar, to which be was admitted in August, 1849, and com- 
menced the practice in Shelbyville, Tennessee, January 1, 1850. 
He was married, November 10, 1850, to Miss Ann Strickler, wbo, 
with five children, constitutes his family. 

In 1S53, Mr. Cooper was nominated by the convention of the 
Whig Party of his district as a candidate for representative in the 
Legislature from the counties of Bedford and Rutherford, and in the 
following August was triumphantly elected, receiving a much larger 
majority than the other Whig candidates in the district. He was 
not a candidate in the next election, the Know-Nothing Party hav- 
ing arisen in the mean time, of which he was not a member, as he 
disapproved of all secret political societies. In 1857, Mr. Cooper 
was again nominated for the Legislature, and, after a very exciting 
canvass, was elected over a very popular opponent. 

In 1S00, he was elected by the State Convention as a delegate 
to the National Convention of the Union Party, held at Balti- 
more, in which he supported the Hon. John Bell, who was then 
nominated for the Presidency. In the struggle which ensued, 
culminating in the civil war, Mr. Cooper was a firm and devoted 
friend of the Union. He did all in his power to prevent the seces- 
sion of his State; and when Tennessee joined in the rebellion, he 
determined not to follow her, but to maintain his allegiance t ■ > the 
Federal Union. His devotion to his country, as embodied in the 
Constitution and the Union of the States, is evident from an ex- 
pression in one of his speeches to the people, in which he said, "I 
would rather leave my children the inheritance of such a govern- 
ment as I have enjoyed, with all its blessings of political and 
religious freedom, than to leave them the wealth of the Indies." 
261 



2 HENRY COOPER. 

After the occupation of the State by the national troops, Mr. 
Cooper was called to the bench as judge of the Seventh Judicial 
Circuit. This position ho continued to hold, although he made 
several attempts to resign, untilJanuary, 1867, when his resignation 
was accepted. While on the bench, many of the questions growing 
out of the war came before him for adjudication ; among others, 
the constitutionality of the law limiting the elective franchise, and 
the legal status of contracts growing out of the use as a circulating 
medium of confederate treasury notes. His decision in both cases 
was reversed by the Supreme Court of the State. His decision in 
the last case— that <>f confederate money — was afterward sustained, 
in an analogous ease, by the Supreme Court of the United Stales. 

In February, 1866, Mr. Cooper was made president of the first 
Slate Convent ion of the 1'nioii ( ', >i iservat i ve Party. Jn September, 
1866, he accepted a professorship in the law-school of Cumberland 
University, at Lebanon, Tennessee, in which he continued until 
June. L868, when fe resigned and removed to Nashville, where he 
resumed the practice of law. In the reorganization of the State, he 
favored a liberal policy to all who had adhered to the Southern 
cause; and in public speeches urged universal amnesty as the surest 
and safest way to a true and lasting peace. 

In. Inly, L869, while absent from home on professional business, 

he was nominated by the Democratic- and Conservative party as a 

candidate for the State Senate, from the countj of Davidson, and 
was elected by a majority of twenty-five hundred, in the Legisla- 
ture to which he was thus elected ther icurred a most exciting 

contest for the United States Senatorship, ex-President Andrew 
Johnson being the most prominent candidate. Mr. Cooper was 
elected, and took his seat March 4. L871, for the term ending in 
1877. 

ITe is now identified with the Democratic Party; but those who 
know him best believe that he will not hesitate to act with any 
other party whose policy he believes will better subserve the public 
interest. It is expected that he will act independently, and <lo that 
which he believes will soonest restore the whole people to fraternal 
feeling. 

262 




'■' 



k r7~J^?s?^> 



HENRY G. DAVIS. 



;%/||ENRY G. DAVIS was born in Howard County, Mary- 

,'$$ S 1$ land, November 16, 1823. Losing his father when quite 
K^ /-^ J' oun §> no was for years occupied in severe manual labor 
to aid in the maintenance of his widowed mother and younger 
brothers. He enjoyed only limited advantages of schools, which, 
however, he improved to the utmost. In 1843 ho entered the 
service of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad as brakeman, and was 
from this position advanced to be conductor, assistant superintend- 
ent of trains, and agent at Piedmont. 

In 1858 he became President of the Piedmont Savings Bank; 
about the same time he formed a partnership with his brothers in 
the lumber and coal trade. He was successful as a financier, and 
established a large and prosperous business. 

During the late civil war he sympathized with the Government 
in its efforts to suppress the rebellion, taking, however, but little 
part in public affairs. His first prominent appearance in politics 
was in 1865, when he was elected as a Democrat from Hampshire 
County to the Virginia House of Delegates, in which he served on 
the Finance Committee. In 1S6S he was a delegate to the Dem- 
ocratic National Convention. In the autumn of that year he was 
elected to the Senate of West Virginia from a district which had 
previously gone Republican by large majorities — "overcoming," 
said the Baltimore " Sun," " by his popularity and energy a large 
vote which was counted against him when he entered the contest.'' 
On the same occasion the Martinsburg "New Era" said: "Mr. 
Davis has no one to thank for his election : it is attributable alone 
to his own indomitable will and indefatigable labors. Without 
any experience as a public speaker, he yet met his opponents on 
263 



2 HENRY 6. DAVIS. 

the stump, and in every instance came off best. He is a courteous 
gentleman, of unsullied honor, of incorruptible integrity, and prom- 
ising ability as a financier, second to none in the State." 

In 1870 Mr. Davis was re-elected to the State Senate by an in- 
creased majority, and was made Chairman of the Committee on 
Taxation and Finance. While holding this position he was elected 
to the Senate of the United States. On the occurrence of that 
event the Wheeling " Register" said: "He is a representative of 
the class of ' self-made men,' and owes the position he has attained 
to his own native ability and force of character. There are very 
few public men indeed who have surmounted as many obstacles and 
achieved as many successes as has Mr. Davis." 

Taking his seat in the Senate on the fourth of March, 1871, Mr. 
Davis at once applied himself with assiduity to the duties of his 
position. He was, at the opening of the Forty-third Congress, ap- 
pointed on the Committee on Appropriations and the Committee 
on Claims, lie brought to the discharge of his duties a practical 
ability and unquestionable fidelity to the interests of his State. 

A loading journal of West Virginia, which was not friendly to 
Mr. Davis's Senatorial aspirations, said, after more than two years 
of his term had elapsed : 

"It gives ns noi only groat pleasure to attest his devotion to the 

great principles of Den ratio free government, but also to bear 

testimony to his watchful care over all legislation likely to bear 
upon the interests of his constituency. ... It is highly compliment- 
ary to hi- talents and aptitude, that in so short an experience he has 
attained to a very influential position in the gravest deliberative 
body known to our system of government." 

The Wheeling " Register" of March 15, 1873, after noting the 
appointment of Mr. Davis upon the Committee on Appropriations, 
one of the most important standing committees of the Senate, said : 
" It gives us pleasure to note the fact that there are none of the new 
members of the Senate who are more esteemed than he by his fel- 
low-Senators, and few who have acquired so much influence in a 
quiet and unostentatious way." 

264 



THOMAS W. FEERT. 



^^pHOMAS W. FERRY was born in Mackinaw, Michigan, 
1 W June 1, 1827. His father, Rev. William M. Ferry, emi- 

> t ■'" grated from Massachusetts to Michigan in 1S22, and 
established the Mackinaw Mission, which, under his 
management, was very successful until it was terminated by the re- 
moval of the Indians further West. After this event he made a 
torn- of Lake Michigan, in an open boat, to determine where he 
should make his future home. He visited Chicago, then only a 
military outpost, and many other places, and finally located at 
Grand Haven, Michigan. Here he established his family, building 
the first frame house erected in that city. 

Possessed of great physical endurance, strength of mind, and 
force of will, the pioneer preacher turned his attention to develop- 
ing the natural resources of the region. He immediately began 
operations in the lumber business, which soon reached large propor- 
tions. With the aid of his four sons he erected mills, built vessels 
for transportation, and made Grand Haven an important source of 
the lumber trade for Chicago and vicinity. A business partnership 
with a father so energetic, thorough, and successful had a tendency 
to develop sterling traits of character in his sons. When the war 
broke out two of them entered the army, one of whom, Major 
1ST. H. Ferry, of the Fifth Michigan cavalry, fell at Gettysburg, 
shot through the head while bravely leading his command. 

Thomas W. Ferry's first political associations were with the 
Whigs, by whom he was elected to the Legislature of Michigan in 
1S57. After the disintegration of the Whig party he became a 
Republican, and as such was elected to the State Senate in 1857, 
serving two years. He soon became an active and influential 
265 



2 THOMAS AV. FERRY. 

member of the Republican party. For a period of eight years he 
served on the Republican State Central Committees of Michigan. 
Tn 1860 he was a member and one of the Yice-Presidents of 
the National Convention which nominated Mr. Lincoln for the 
Presidency. 

In 1864 he was elected a Representative from Michigan to the 
Thirty-ninth Congress. In this Congress he was appointed upon 
three Committees: Post-offices and Post-Roads, Militia, and the 
War Del its of the Loyal States. He was the first to move success- 
fully in securing appropriations for harbors on Lake Michigan, and 
obtained the passage of other important measures for developing 
the resources and promoting the commerce of his State. 

Mr. Ferry was re-elected to Congress for his second term by a 
majority of more than seven thousand votes. In the Fortieth Con- 
gress he was re-appointed on the Post-office Committee, and was 
placed on the important Committee on Naval Affairs. A Wash- 
ington correspondent said: "Mr. Ferry is the hardest worker in 
the Post-office Committee. The Department places him next to 
Colfax in connection with our mail system.'" He did much to in- 
crease mail facilities for the region which he represented. When 
he entered Congress, in 1864, there was only a weekly mail from 
Grand Haven to Traverse City. Now there is a daily lake-shore 
mail, a daily mail by steamers, a daily interior mail from Grand 
Rapids to Traverse City, and a daily mail to Milwaukee, Chicago, 
and St. Joseph. 

Mr. Ferry was Chairman of a Sub-Committee to visit New York 
to examine the old Post-office, and report upon the necessity of a 
new one. Speaking of the result of this investigation as laid before 
the House by Mr. Ferry, the Xew York Herald said : "The report 
is an interesting and instructive document. Mr. Ferry takes a 
broad and statesmanlike view of the wonderful progress and future 
grandeur of this metropolis, and urges the erection of an edifice 
which in point of architecture and completeness will do honor to 
the Republic and to her greatest city." 

He was influential in defeating the passage of a bill establishing 
266 



THOMAS W. PERRY. 3 

low* tariff on lumber coming from Canada. In a speech on tin's 
measure Mr. Ferry said: "Are we under any obligation to pursue 
so generous a policy as is proposed by the Committee toward Can- 
ada? "What has she done to merit this liberal treatment? What 
has been the experience of the past years of our sanguinary war ? 
Did she lend the aid of her sympathy and good-will, most cheaply 
given, which would have been gladly received ? No, sir ; she pre- 
ferred to offer her soil as an asylum for plotters, conspirators, and 
traitors against the life of this Government. The treatment we 
have given Canada deserved her encouragement in the hour of our 
peril. Her press and voices should have been raised to conciliate 
England, to remind her that in the veins of this great people, 
battling for life and liberty, there ran the blood of her own sons, 
and that her hand should be stayed against a contest so righteous 
as putting down a rebellion founded on human slavery. We 
fought alone, under the sneers and jeers of both England and 
Canada, and crowned our victory with universal liberty, and vindi- 
cated the rights of humanity." 

When the tax-bill was under consideration Mr. Ferry made a 
successful argument in favor of exempting breadstuff, and lumber 
from the tax. " It harmonizes," said he, " with the theory of that 
legislation which generously grants a free homestead to the poor 
settler who, for want of means, would otherwise roam homeless and 
a wanderer throughout the land. Freeing lumber from taxation 
lessens its cost and cheapens the shelter of the homestead. Releas- 
ing breadstuffs from taxation reduces the cost of the primal food of 
the primal poverty-stricken settler. With a free home, a free shel- 
ter, and free food, the staple and necessary conditions of livelil 1 

are protected, and the poorer classes of the community befriended 
by a considerate Government. With such protection and such a 
start in life, failure to rise above the misfortunes which hover around 
the more dependent classes of citizenship must be chargeable to per- 
sonal inefficiency rather than to legislative authority." 

Re-elected for the third time, in the Forty-first Congress Mr. 
Ferry remained on the Committees on Post-offices and Naval 
267 



4 THOMAS W. FERRY. 

Affairs, and was appointed on the Committee on Rules. He fre- 
quently addressed the House on important subjects of legislation. 
Pending the Indian Appropriation Bill, he delivered a speech re- 
plete with philanthropic views, in the conclusion of which he said : 

" It is the verification of what is known to be true by those who 
best understand the habits and character of the Indian that, natu- 
rally hospitable, generous, and just, dividing with friends so long as 
they have any thing to share, they become shy, treacherous, and 
murderous when their hospitality is violated, their generosity out- 
raged, and the smoke of peace returned by cruelty and the torch of 
desolation. No wonder that such treatment causes the pipe to be 
changed into the tomahawk. Then the cry is, ' Indian treachery ! ' 
' "Wanton massacre!' to be succeeded by organized military forces 
for devastation and annihilation." 

Mr. Ferry was re-elected a Representative from Michigan to the 
Forty-second Congress, but before taking his seat was elected to the 
Senate of the United States, the successor of Hon. Jacob M. Howard, 
for the term of six years from March i, 1871. He was placed on 
the Committees of Finance, Post-offices, and the District of Co- 
lumbia. At the beginning of the Forty-third Congress he was 
also made Chairman of the Committee on Rules. On that occasion 
the New York Times, referring to the new Committees of the 
Senate, said, ■" Mr. Ferry, of Michigan, succeeds Mr. Pomeroy as 
Chairman of the Committee on Rules, a place seldom accorded to 
one so young in service, but for which Mr. Ferry's ability as a 
presiding officer has shown him to be abundantly qualified." Mr. 
Ferry was frequently called by the Yice-President to occupy the 
chair, in which position he displayed rare knowledge of parlia- 
mentary law and skill in the discharge of such delicate and respon- 
sible duties. 

His first speech in the Senate was upon the Chicago Relief Bill. 
Present during the Chicago fire, he offered and sold his own lumber 
at ante fire prices at great pecuniary sacrifice, and thus succeeded in 
effectually breaking a " ring" formed for the purpose of putting up 
the price of lumber on the sufferers. In the Senate, when it was 
268 



THOMAS W. FERRY. 



proposed by the Chicago Relief Bill to strike at the lumber interests 
of Michigan, which State had also largely suffered by tire, lie 
deemed it his duty to rise above personal sympathy in defense of 
the interests of his constituents' by opposing the bill in the form of 
relief proposed. His efforts in this debate had much to do in 
breaking the precedent established by the Portland Relief Bill, the 
good results of which were more apparent after the Boston fire. 

In a discussion which occurred May 13, 1872, on a proposition 
to pay a mechanic in the navy yard for the use by the Government 
of his valuable inventions, certain Senators opposed the measure for 
the reason that the inventor was in the employ of the Government; 
but Mr. Ferry addressed the Senate earnestly in favor of it, main- 
taining that "the Government should not, because it employs an 
individual, deprive him of some share of the fruits of his mind ami 
his genius. The results of such a policy, if pursued, will be that 
mechanics will follow in the old ruts; in other words, there will be 
no stimulus to invention, and their employment will be just such as 
those who preceded them.'' 

Mr. Ferry introduced a resolution to set apart the Island of 
Mackinac as "a national public park for health, comfort, and 
pleasure, for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.'' He advo- 
cated this resolution in an eloquent speech, in which he said: 

" 'We cannot too early or too surely arrest and preserve from 
decay relics of national history or fame. We owe it to ourselves 
and to the future to grasp, and tix in some form to hand down to 
posterity, all points or incidents of historic value which serve to 
illustrate the march of the nation. I would add this example in 
perpetuity of that worthy record, that this, with other national 
memorials, may not perish, but brighten witli the lapse of time.'' 

During the discussion of the Caldwell case in March, 1^7.-, an 
amendment having been proposed to the resolution of the Com- 
mittee declaring the seat vacant, that Mr. Caldwell, instead, be ex- 
pelled, Mr. Ferry offered an amendment by which a vote could be 
taken upon the original resolution questioning the validity of the 
election, substantially as reported by the Committee, and which 
269 



6 THOMAS W. FERRY 

had been so long and ably discussed. Maintaining with much 
force of reasoning the importance of such a direct vote, he said : 

" The pivotal idea upon which the whole debate has ranged has 
been the effect which bribery has upon the election of a Senator. 
It is due to the Senate and to the country that this debate should 
be allowed to crystallize into a vote upon the merits of the ques- 
tion. The gravity of the case demands that a precedent should be 
established by the solemn judgment of the Senate upon the simple 
question of the Committee at issue, otherwise the debate is substan- 
tially a waste, so far as the recorded opinion of this body is con- 
cerned. What more opportune moment could be afforded for the 
dispassionate discharge of a constitutional duty? Although no ad- 
vocate of the hackneyed shibboleth of 'State rights, 5 I do entertain 
due respect for State sovereignty, and believe now is the time for 
the Senate to mark the boundary between Federal and State elective 
jurisdiction. Our associates over the way have divided in the ex- 
pression of their views, and thrown down the gauntlet tor equal 
abandonment of political affiliations on this side of the Chamber in 
the determination of a high constitutional question. Partisan strife 
is wholly at rest. Survey the national horizon, and not. a speck as 
big as a man's hand indicates the approach, much less prevalence, 
of political antagonisms. The heat and criminations of party zeal 
have subsided into the cool and respectful amenities of citizen 
fellowship. 

"Is it not the time and place, ami would we not lie recreant to 
our duty, if we did not rise above the politician into the domain of 
official dignity to hail this auspicious occasion when we can pro 
aounce the clear, enlightened judgment of the statesman in the 
exalted forum of the American Senate?" 

The senatorial career of Mr. Ferry, but recently begun, is a 
fulfillment of the promise of his successful service in the Uonse. 
His speeches show him to be a careful observer of current events, 
and a diligent student of political science. As a citizen, lie takes 
a deep interest in all moral and benevolent enterprises. 
270 




. 



flfazizau 



C/^O 



PHINEAS W. HITCHCOCK. 



•86 l/ <^s- 

; jV^IIINEAS W. HITCHCOCK was born at New Lebai , 

tjK^ New York, November 30, 1831. His ancestors were 

English, who settled in New England in early colonial 
days. He obtained a liberal education, graduating at 
Williams College, Massachusetts, in 1S55. lie then studied law, 
and removed to Nebraska in the spring of 1857. In these early 
days be was an active member of the Omaha Library and Debating 
Society. Although modest and unobtrusive in manner, and by no 
means boisterous or aggressive, be gave evidence of possessing 
superior qualities as a debater and extemporaneous speaker. 

Engaging actively in the business of real estate and the practice 
of law, be at the same time took a deep interest in polities, and was 
ranked as a leading abolitionist. He was one of the organizers of 
the Republican party in Nebraska. He aided in establishing the 
first Republican newspaper in the State, and as a constant con- 
tributor to its columns did much to mold public sentiment in the 
infant commonwealth. He was a member of the Republican 
National Convention at Chicago in 18G0. He was appointed 
United States Marshal in 1861, and held the office until 1S<U, 
when he was elected as Territorial Delegate to the Thirty-ninth 
Congress. In that Congress be took a deep interest in public lands, 
Indian affairs, and other subjects of vital concern to the Territory 
which be represented. On the admission of Nebraska as a State 
be was appointed Surveyor-General, which position he held two 
years. He was elected as a Republican to the United States 
Senate, to succeed Hon. John M. Thayer, for the term commencing 
March 4, 1871. "He is," said the "Omaha Republican," on this 
occasion, "a faithful friend, and an outspoken and honorable op- 
ponent ; ever true to his promises, and universally esteemed as an 
271 



2 PHINEASW. HITCHCOCK. 

honorable and valuable citizen ; a thorough Republican, a vigorous 
and effective worker, of the most correct personal habits, and will 
serve the State and nation with credit and fidelity in the lofty posi- 
tion to which he lias been elected." 

In the Senate Mr. Hitchcock served on the Committee on Ter- 
ritories, the Committee on the District of Columbia, and the Com- 
mittee on the Pacific Railroad. His addresses in the Senate, 
though nut frequent, are always forcible and effective. Having 
proposed an amendment to the Indian Appropriation Bill to afford 
greater facility for presenting claims tin- compensation for depreda 
tions committed by the Indians, he supported the measure by a 
speech, of which the following are the closing paragraphs : 

"Sir, the tenderness toward the Indian of these philanthropic 
gentlemen is equal to the patriotism of Artemus Ward, who was 
willing all his wife's relatives should be drafted into the army. 
They insist that everj body hut themselves should be kind to tin' 
Indian. Having driven him out of the eastern portion of this 
country with fire and sword, they ask that we shall take him and 
keep him, and are quite shocked that we are disposed to object to 
his little eccentricities of stealing and destroying our property and 
scalping our wives and children. They talk flippantly about 
western men wronging and driving out the Indian and stealing 
his land. What title to their lands (as against Indians) have our 
eastern friends that we have not to ours? Possession to stolen 
property, be it long or short, gives no title. The fact that they 
have held their land- longer than we only makes their sin against 
the Indian (the real owner, according to their virw) the greater. 

"Sir, when they reconvey to the Indians the rich fields and 
green meadows of the East; when Plymouth Rock, and Manhattan 
Island, and Bunker Hill are returned once again to their 'original 
proprietors;' when the Moody pages of the early history of our 
country are blotted from the records, then, and not till then, can 
our Eastern friends wrap themselves in the mantle of 'self-right- 
eousness'' and lecture us of the West for our sins against the 
Indians." 

272 



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joi-ix w. .loiixs'rox. 




^OHX W. JOHNSTON was born at Abingdon, Virginia, 

September 9, ISIS. His fatber, who lived but about 
year after marriage, was an eminent physician, a brother 
of General Joseph E. Johnston, of the Confederate Army, 
and the son of Judge Peter Johnston, who served through the 
whole of the Revolutionary War, attached to Lee's legion. On the 
mother's side the subject of this sketch is the grand-nephew of 
General William Campbell, who commanded the American fin-r- 
at the battle of King's Mountain, and ou the father's side a grand- 
nephew of Patrick Henry. 

Young Johnston in early life gave evidence of an active tem- 
perament, and manifested great anxiety to acquire knowledge. He 
received the rudiments of his education at the Abingdon Academy. 
At the age of fifteen he had prepared himself for college, and on 
horseback and alone he traveled from Abingdon to Columbia, 
South Carolina, where lie entered South Carolina College, in which 
be studied about four years, but left without graduating. While 
at college he was a diligent student, and held a good position in his 
classes. 

After leaving the South Carolina College he entered the Uni- 
versity of Virginia, where he devoted one session to the study of 
law. He then completed his legal education in the law-office of 
his uncle, Hon. Beverly E. Johnston, one of the most eminent 
lawyers of the South. In the year 1839, when in his twenty-first 
year, he was admitted to the bar, and immediately removed to 
Jefferson ville, Tazewell County, Virginia, where he opened an 
office and commenced an active and successful career in the prac- 
tice of law. 

273 



2 JOHN W. JOHNSTON. 

In 1S41 he married Miss Nicketti B. Floyd, youngest daughter 
of Governor Floyd, and sister of John B. Floyd, who was Secretary 
of "War under Mr. Buchanan. In 1846 he was elected to the State 
Senate for two years, but took little part in the proceedings of that 
body, and declined a re-election. In 1S50 he was elected President 
of the North-western Bank of Virginia, which was located at 
Jefferson ville. He served in this position for eight years, when he 
resigned and removed to Abingdon, his present residence. Here 
he continued in the practice of his profession, principally in the 
same Courts as before, conducting a business which had become 
very large and lucrative. 

He was a Democrat before the war, and when hostilities com- 
menced warmly espoused the cause of the South. After the war 
his disabilities were removed without his knowledge through the 
kind intervention of an officer of the United States Army, with 
whom he had become acquainted. General Stoneman appointed 
him Judge of the Tenth Judicial District of Virginia, and while 
holding that office he was elected to the Senate of the United 
States as a representative of the Conservative element of his 
State. 

Admitted to his seat in the Senate January 28, 1870, during the 
remainder of the Forty first Congress Mr. Johnston took an active 
part in the debates on the original and supplemental Enforcement 
bills, speaking earnestly against both measures. lie also resisted 
the passage of the Naturalization bill, and was quite vigorous in 
his efforts in favor of the reduction of taxation and the repeal of 
the Internal Revenue system, of which, in his speech of January 
2G, 1871, he said : 

It is not equal in its operation, but bears with almost destructive weight 
upon some parts of the country and some important interests. It is badly ad- 
ministered, and cannot well be otherwise. It is demoralizing in its effects, and 
tends to weaken the respect of the people for the Government ami lessen their 
inclination to obey the laws; and it extends tha jurisdiction of the United 
States Courts, extends the power- of the General Government, swells the already 
too great patronage of the Executive, is fatal to the individual liberties of the 
people, and destroys the constitutional rights of the States. 
274 




*?** 






JOHN A. LOGAN. 



OIIN A.- LOGAN was born in Jackson County, Illinois, 
February 9, 1S26. His father, Dr. John Logan, came from 
Ireland to Illinois in 1823 ; his mother, Elizabeth Jenkins, 
was a Tennesseean. He was indebted for his early education to his 
father, and to such teachers as chanced to remain for brief periods in 
the new settlement. 

At the commencement of the Mexican war young Logan volun- 
teered, and was chosen Lieutenant in a company of the First Illinois 
Infantry. He did good service as a soldier, and was for some time 
adjutant of his regiment. On his return home, in the fall of 1848, 
lie commenced the study of law in the office of his uncle, Alexander 
M. Jenkins, Esq., formerly Lieutenant-Governor of Illinois. In No- 
vember, 1849, he was elected Clerk of Jackson County. He at- 
tended a course of law lectures in Louisville, and having received his 
diploma in 1857, he commenced the practice of his profession with 
his uncle. By his popular manners and rare abilities he soon won 
his way to a high place in public esteem, and was, in 1S52, elected 
Prosecuting- Attorney of the Third Judicial District. In the autumn 
of the same year he was elected to the State Legislature, and was 
three times re-elected. In 185G he was a presidential elector. In 
1858 he was elected by the Democrats as a Eepresentative in Con 
gross, and was re-elected in I860. In the Presidential campaign of 
this year he ardently advocated the election of Mr. Douglas ; never- 
theless, on the first intimation of coming trouble from (lie South, 
Mr. Logan did not hesitate to declare that in the event of Mr. 
Lincoln's election he would " shoulder his musket to have him in- 
augurated." 
When in Washington, in attendance on the called session of Con- 
275 



2 JOHN A. LOGAN. 

gress, in July, 1SG1, Mr. Logan joined the troops that were marching 
to meet the enemy. He fought in the ranks at the disastrous battle 
of Bull Run, and was among the last to leave the held. Returning 
to his home, he announced to his constituents the determination to 
enter the service of the country, for the defence of the "old blood- 
stained flag." 

His stirring and patriotic eloquence rallied multitudes of volun- 
teers; and on the 13th of September, L861, the Thirty-first Regiment 
of Illinois Infantry was organized and ready to take the field, under 
command of Colonel Logan. The regiment was attached to Gen- 
eral McClernand's Brigade. Its first experience in battle was at 
Belmont, where Colonel Logan had his horse shot under him. And 
here he assisted materially in preventing the capture of a part of 
General McClernand's command by leading his men in a bayonet 
charge, breaking the enemy's line, and opening the way for the force 
that was being surrounded. He led his regiment in the attack 
upon Fort Henry. While gallantly leading his men in the assault 
on Fort Donelson, he received a severe wound, which disabled him 
for some time from active sen ice. Reporting again for duty to Gen 
eral Grant, at Pittsburg Landing, he was, in March, 1862, made a 
Brigadier-General of Volunteers. Ho took an important part in the 
movement against Corinth; and subsequently was given command 
at Jackson, Tennessee, with instructions to guard the railroad com- 
munications. 

His numerous friends and old constituents urged him to become a 
candidate for re-election to Congress in 1 s, '>2, as representative for 
the State at large; but he replied to their importunities with these 
glowing words of patriotism: 

"In reply I would most respectfully remind you that a compliance 
with your request on my part would be a departure from the settled 
resolution with which I resumed my sword in defence and for the 
perpetuity of a Government the like and blessings of which no other 
nation or age shall enjoy, if once suffered to be weakened or de- 
stroyed. In making this reply, I feel that it is unnecessary to en- 
270 



JOHN A. LOGAN. 3 

large upon what were, or are. or may hereafter be, my political 
views, but would simply state that politics, .it' every grade and char- 
acter whatsoever, are now ignored by me, since 1 am convinced that 
the Constitution and life of the Republic— which I shall never ci ase 
to adore— are in danger. I express all my views and politics when I 
asserl my attachment for the Union. I have no other politics now 
and consequently no aspirations for civil place and power. 

"Xo! I am to-day a soldier of this Republic, so to remain, 
changeless and immutable, until her last and weakest enemy shall 
have expired and passed away. 

" Ambitious men, who have not a true love for their country at 
heart, may bring forth crude and bootless questions to agitate the 
pulse of our troubled nation, and thwart the preservation of this 
Union, but for none of such am 1. I have entered the field to die 
if need be, for this Government, and never expect to return to peace- 
ful pursuits until the object of this war of preservation has become a 
fact established. 

"Whatever means it may be necessary to adopt, whatever local 
interests it may affect or destroy, i- no longer an affair of mine. If 
any locality or section suffers or is wronged in the prosecution of the 
war, I am sorry for it, but I say it must not be heeded now, for we 
are at war for the preservation oi the Union. Let the evil be recti- 
fied when the present breach has been cemented for ever. 

"If the South by her malignant treachery has imperilled all that 
made her great and wealthy, and it, was to be lost, I would not 
stretch forth my hand to >ave her from destruction, if she will not 
be saved by a restoration of the Union. Since the die of her 
wretchedness has been cast by her own hands, let the coin of her 
misery circulate alone in her own dominions until the peace of 
Union ameliorates her forlorn condition." 

In Grant's Northern Mississippi campaign, General Logan com- 
manded the third division of the Seventeenth Army Corps, under 
General McPherson, exhibiting a skid and bravery which led to bis 
promotion as Major-General of Volunteers, dating from NTovi 
277 



■I JOHN A. LOGAN. 

20, 1S62. He took an active part in the movement on Vieksburg; 
the seven steamboats which ran the batteries there with supplies 
were manned exclusively by men from his command of his own 
selection. We subsequently see him contributing to the victory at 
Port Gibson, saving the day by his personal valor at the battle of 
Raymond, participating in the defeat of the rebels at Jackson, and 
■ taking a prominent part in the battle at Champion Hill. 

General Grant, in his report of the last mentioned battle, uses the 
following language: "Logan rode up at this time, and told me that 
if Hovey could make another dash at the enemy, he could come up 
from where he then was and capture the greater part of their force." 
Which suggestions were acted upon and fully realized. 

In the siege of Vieksburg he commanded McPherson's centre, 
and on the 25th of June made the assault after the explosion of the 
mine. His column was the first to enter the surrendered city, and 
he was made its Military Governor. The Seventeenth Army Corps 
honored him hy the presentation of a gold medal inscribed with the 
na lies of the nine battles in which his heroism and generalship had 
been distinguished. 

He succeeded General Sherman in the command of the Fifteenth 
Army Corps, in November, 1 863, and during t lie following winter 
had his head-quarters at Huntsville, Alabama. In May, 1864, he 
joined the Grand Army, which, under General Sherman, was prepar- 
ing for its inarch into Georgia, lie led the advance of the Army of 
the Tennessee in the movement at Resaca, and participated in the 
battle which ensued, with Wood's Division, charging and capturing 
the enemy's lines of works between the fort and the river. At 
I 'alias, on tli ■ 23d of May, he met and repulsed Hardee's veterans. 
The next day, while pointing out to Generals Sherman and McPher- 
rou the position of the enemy, be was again wounded by a shot 
through the left arm ; nevertheless he continued in the field, carrying 
his arm in a sling. At Kenesaw Mountain he drove the enemy 
from his line of work-, and on the 27th of June made a desperate 
assault against the impregnable face of Little Kenesaw. 
278 



JOHN A. LOG AX. 

At the battle of Atlanta, on the 22d of July, in the hottest of the 
fight, Logan was informed of the fall of his beloved commander, 
General McPherson, in another part of the field. Assuming com- 
mand, General Logan dashed impetuously along the lines, shouting, 
"McPherson and revenge." The effect was electrical, and thou- 
sands of rebels slain on that sanguinary field attested the lo 
the Union soldiers for their dead commander, and their enthusiastic 
imitation of the valor of his successor. 

General Sherman, in his report, speaking of the death of General 
McPherson, says : " General Logan succeeded him and commanded 
the Army of the Tennessee through this desperate battle, with the same 
success and ability that had characterized him in the command of a 
corps or division." And in his letter of August 16th, to General 
Halleck, General Sherman said : " General Logan fought that battle 
out as required, unaided save by a small brigade scut by my orders." 
On the 2Sth of July he fought the battle of Ezra Chapel, where, in 
the language of General Sherman, ''lie commanded in person, and 
that corps, as heretofore reported, repulsed the rebel army com- 
pletely." He was efficient in the remaining battles until after the 
fall of Atlanta, when his troops being ordered into camp for a 
season of respite, he went North and spent a i'vw months in stumping 
the Western States during the Presidential campaign of 1864. His 
troops forming a part of Sherman's Grand Army in its march to 
the sea, General Logan rejoined them at Savannah, Georgia. 

From Savannah he marched with his corps through the Carolinas, 
actively participating in the battle of Benton's Cross Roads or Mill 
Creek. After Johnson's surrender, he inarched with his veterans to 
Washington, and took part in the great review of the victorious 
Union armies on the 23d of May. On the same day he was 
appointed to the command of the Army of the Tennessee. As soon 
as active duty in the field was over, he at once tendered his resigna- 
tion, stating he did not desire to draw pay when not in active 
service. 

He was offered the position of Minister to Mexico in 1S65, but 
279 



q J O II N A. L O G A X . 

declined the honor. He was in 1SGG elected a Representative to 
the Fortieth Congress, from the State at large, receiving 203,045 
votes against 147,058 given for his Democratic opponent. He im- 
mediately occupied a position of influence in the House of Repre- 
sentatives, to which his previous experience, his acknowledged 
ability, and hissuccess asacivilian and a soldier entitled him. lie 
opposed the pretensions of President Johnson, and as one of the 
managers on the part of the House of Representatives aided in con- 
ducting the Impeachment trial. 

Re-eleeted to the Forty-first Congress he was made chairman 
of the Committee on Military Affairs. In this capacity he ren- 
dered great service to the country by bringing forward and secur- 
ing the passage of an act for the reduction of the army. He 
advocated this measure March L0, L870, in an able and elaborate 
speech, in which he presented aconvincing array of facts and argu- 
ments. Time has demonstrated the wisdom of tin- measure, which 
is another illustration that 

■tories 
No less renowned I tian v, ar." 

"Mr. Logan was re-eleeted Representative from the State at large 
to the Forty-second Congress, but before that Congress convened 

he was chosen by the Legislature a Senator of the United States 
for the term commencing March I, 1871. In the Senate hi 
fully sustained the high reputation gained by long and successful 
service in the House. Ho cordially sustained the administration 
of President Grant, and one of the most eloquent and aide of Ins 
efforts in the Senate was made dune 3, 1872, in "Vindication of 
the President" against the attack of Mr. Sumner. He was chosen 
by the Senate Chairman of the Military Committee, to succeed Vice- 
President Wilson. 

General Logan's career as a soldier, a politician, and a statesman 
has been unusually brilliant. From his impetuous personal brav- 
ery on the field of battle he was styled " The Murat of the Union 
Army." In Congress his career has been no less successful and 
distinguished. 

280 




■ ' 



.y/, sr,-^ 



THOMAS M. NORWOOD. 

^^pHOMAS MANSON NORWOOD was born in Talbot 
g County, Georgia, April 26, 1830. His father was Caleb 

. . M. Norwood, born in Blount County, Tennessee, and 
his mother was Jane Manson, a native of South Caro- 
lina. His father removed to Talbot County, Georgia, in 1829, 
and thence to Culloden, Monroe County, Georgia, in 1836. This 
village was the seat of two academies, and was the center of a 
community of great wealth and high intellectual and moral culture. 
Mr. Xorwood was placed under the tuition of Marvin Massey 
Mason, principal of one of the academies of the town, where he 
remained until he was prepared to enter on a collegiate course, 
liis father at this time submitted to him the alternative of a colle- 
giate education or a patrimony at his majority. lie without hesi- 
tation chose the former, and in the summer of 1847 entered Emory 
College, Oxford, Georgia, then presided over by Judge A. B. 
Longstreet, and graduated in the summer of 1S50 under the presi- 
dency of Bishop George F. Pierce. After graduation he took 
charge of a school, which he conducted for one year. In Septem- 
ber, 1851, he, with Claudius C. Wilson, late brigadier-general in the 
Confederate army, commenced the study of law at Culloden. in the 
office of James M. Smith, now Governor of Georgia. In February, 
1852, they were admitted by the Superior Court of Monroe County 
to practice law, and immediately went to Savannah, Georgia, where 
they opened a law office in partnership. 

In .Tune, 1S53, Mr. Norwood was married to Miss Anna M. 
Hendree, of Richmond, Virginia. He carried on his law practice 
prosperously for a number of years, but at the breaking out of the 
civil war the partnership was dissolved, one of the partners going 
into the military and the other into the civil service of the Con- 
281 



2 THOMAS M. NORWOOD. 

federate States. In 1861 Mr. Norwood was elected a member of 
the Legislature of Georgia, in which lie served two years. In 
March, 1S62, he enlisted as a private in the Chatham Artillery, in 
the service of the Confederate States, but was soon discharged by 
reason of an injury which disabled him from active duty. 

After the war Mr. Norwood resumed the practice of law in 
Savannah. He took an active part as a Democrat in the election 
held in Georgia, in April, 1808, in opposition to the adoption of 
the State Constitution under the Reconstruction Acts of Congress, 
lie was appointed alternate Democratic elector for the State at 
large in 1808, on the Seymour and Blair ticket. 

In November, 1871, he was elected to the United States Senate 
as a Democrat for the term ending March i, 1877. His seat was 
contested by Foster Blodgett, but in the decision of the question 
there was no division of opinion in favor of the right of Mr. 
Norwood to the seat, and he was admitted, December 19, 1871. 
Taking his seat in the Senate of the United States, Mr. Norwood 
at once devoted himself with assiduity to the public business. 
282 





^fT~ */c^c<^t£_, 






JAMES K. KELLY. 



£:'-^Wyj? HE ancestors of the subject of this sketch, both paternal 
^SE and maternal, emigrated from the north of Ireland in the 
<\S|?- early part of the last century, and settled in Lancaster 
county, in the province of Pennsylvania. Here his grand- 
father, Colonel John Kelly, was born in the year 1744. and lived until 
about the year 177o. when he removed with hfe young wife to that 
portion of Northumberland county known as Buffalo Valley, and 
subsequently embraced within the limits of Snyder county. This 
was then an almost unbroken wilderness, inhabited only by a few 
resolute and daring adventurers, who braved alike the privations of 
a new country and the Hostilities of the Indians, far more numerous 
than they. Tradition and story have chronicled the heroic deeds 
and adventure- of Colonel Kelly, in Indian warfare in the valley of 
the Susquehanna. He also participated in the revolutionary war ; 
and, as a major, commanded a detachment of Pennsylvania militia 
in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. Returning to his home 
in Buffalo Valley, he lived there the quiet life of a farmer, beloved 
and honored by all who knew him. and died at the advanced age of 
eighty-nine years. 

In that valley, John Kelly, the father of Senator Kelly, was born 
in the year 1774, and also became a farmer. "When about forty 
years of age, he was united in marriage with Anne Caldwell, of 
Northumberland county, a woman of more than ordinary men- 
tal endowments and strength of will. Soon after their marriage, 
they removed to George's Valley, in Centre county, Pennsylvania, 
where their second son, James K. Kelly, the subject of this notice, 
was born on the 16th day of February, 1819. Losing Ins mother by 
283 



2 JAMES K.KELLY. 

death in liis early boyhood, lie was left with two brothers and three 
sisters to the care of an indulgent father, and remained at home 
until he was about fifteen years of age. In the mean while he 
went part of the time to a country school, which he alternated 
with such work as a boy could do upon his father's farm. At that 
age he was sent to the Milton Academy, a classical school then 
favorably known throughout the State of Pennsylvania. There, 
and at the Lewisburg Academy, he remained about three years, 
making such proficiency in his classical and mathematical studies 
that he was prepared to enter the junior class at Princeton College 
in the year 1837, and graduated at that institution in the class of 
1839. At the close of the year 1839, Mr. Kelly commenced the 
study of law, in the law school attached to Dickinson College, 
under the care and instruction of Hon. John Peed, of Carlisle, and 
was admitted to the bar in the spring of 1842. The same year he 
commenced the practice of law in Lewistown, Pennsylvania, where 
he resided until the spring of 1819. During the last year of Gover- 
nor David R. Portei''s administration, he was appointed to, and 
held, the office of deputy attorney general for Juniata county, and, 
upon the accession of Francis P. Shunk to the office of governor, 
Mr. Kelly was appointed deputy attorney -general for the county of 
Mifflin, in which he resided; ami held the office until the death of 
( lo\ ernor Shunk. 

Filled with a spirit of adventure, in the spring of 1819, Mr. Kel- 
ly, in company with twelve other young men, left Pennsylvania for 
California, doing from Lewistown by stage to Pittsburg, they there 
took passage by steamboat to New-Orleans, and thence by sailing 
vessel to Vera Cruz. On horseback they crossed over the Mexican 
Pepublic to San Bias, on the Pacific, coast, and there found a Mexi- 
can vessel bound for San Francisco. On this they took passage foi 
California, and landed in San Francisco on the Tt.h of July, 1849. 
Like nearly every other adventurer to the land of gold, Mr. Kelly 
went to the mines, and with pick and shovel worked hard in delv- 
ing for gold at Murphy's diggings, in Calaveras county. Here he 
mined until December of that year, when he went to San Fran- 
cisco, and again began the practice of law. In the spring of L851, 
284 



JAMES K. KELLY. 3 

lie went to Oregon, where lie has since continued to reside, practic- 
ing his profession with much success. In December. 1852, the 
Legislative Assembly of Oregon elected three members of the bar 

a board of commissioners to prepare a code of laws for that terri- 
tory. Of this commission, Mr. Kelly was the chairman, his asso- 
ciates being Hon. R. P. Boise and Eon. D. R. Bigelow. In June 

1853, he was elected a member of the Legislative Council to fill a 
vacancy caused by the resignation of A. L. Lovejoy, of Clackamas 
county; and again, in 1854, be was reelected to the same office for 
the term of three years. During this term he was twice chosen 
president of the council. 

In the fall of 1S55, doubtless by preconcerted action, Indian hos- 
tilities commenced throughout both Oregon and Washington terri- 
tories, in which nearly every Indian tribe within their borders was 
arrayed against the white population. A proclamation was issued 
by Governor Curry, calling for volunteers to defend the settlements 
from the hostile savages. Mr. Kelly, among others, responding to 
the call, volunteered, and was eh cted captain of Company 0, First 
Regiment of Oregon Mounted Volunteers. In October. Ins com- 
pany marched across the Cascade Mountains, and joined other com- 
panies of the same regiment, in Eastern Oregon, where, in organiz- 
ing, Hon. J. AY. Xesmith, late United St ites Senator from On 
was elected colonel, and Mr. Kelly lieutenant-colonel of the regi- 
ment. Colonel Nesmith, taking five companies, inarched to the 
scene of hostilities in the Yakima Valley, in Washington Territory, 
and ordered Lieutenant-Colonel Kelly to proceed with the other 
five companies to the valley of Walla Walla. While encamped 
on the Walla Walla River among the hostile Indians, the com- 
mand of Lieutenant-Colonel Kelly, numbering about two hund 
was attacked by the combined forces of the Cayuse, Umatilla, and 
Walla Walla tribes of Indians, numbering not less than five or six 
hundred warriors, well mounted on fleet ponies. For three days 
the fight was continued, when the Indians, after sustaining heavy 
losses, were driven at all points, and fled precipitately beyond and 
north of Snake River, and scattered in all directions, leaving the 
Oregon volunteers in the undisputed possession of the whole coun- 
285 



4 JAMES K. KELLY. 

try south of that, river. By this action, attended with considera- 
ble loss to the Oregon volunteers, the hostile Indians in the valleys 
of Walla Walla and Umatilla were thoroughly subdued, and have 
since remained at peace with the white inhabitants. In the spring 
of 1850, the first regiment of mounted volunteers was mustered out 
of service, and Lieutenant-Colonel Kelly returned to his home in 
Oregon City and resumed the practice of law. In 1857, he was 
elected a memher of the convention which framed the constitution 
of Oregon, and took an active part in the labors and deliberations 
of that body. In 1860, he was elected a State Senator, and as such 
served four years in the Legislative Assembly of Oregon. 

On the 27th of November, 1863, Mr. Kelly was married to Miss 
Mary B. Millar, of * >regon, a daughter of the late Reverend James 
P. Millar, of Argyle, Washington county, New- York, where she 
was born. In 1864, Mr. Kelly was nominated by the Democratic 
State Convention their candidate for Congress; and although at 
the time no hopes of his election were entertained either by Mr. 
Kelly or the members of the convention, yet he made a canvass of 
the whole State with hi- opponent, Hon. J. TI. IX Henderson, and 
greatly reduced the Republican majority' of the former election. 
In 1866, he was the Democratic candidate for governor of Ore- 
gon, and was, according to the otlicial count, defeated by two 
hundred and seventy-seven votes, although the majority against 
him was less than that number, being increased by the fraudulent 
rejection of many votes given in his favor. 

On the 20th of September, L870, Mr. Kelly was elected by the 
Legislative Assembly of Oregon, United States Senator for the 
term of six years, commencing March 4,1871. On taking his seat, 
he was appointed by the Senate a member of the Commitee on the 
Pacific Railroad, the Committee on Post-Offices and Post-Eoads, 
and the Joint Committee on Enrolled Bills. 



I'Sli 



MATT W. RANSOM. 



ytf'-ATT W. RANSOM was born in Warren County. North 
Carolina, October 8, 1826. He received an academic 
%?*£%? education preparatory to entering college, and became a 
student in the University of North Carolina, where he graduated 
in 1847. Having a taste for legal studies, he had, while astudent 
in the University, prepared himself for the bar, to which he was 
admitted soon after his graduation, and practiced his profession 
with great success. 

He was elected to the Attorney Generalship of North Carolina 
in 1S52, by a Legislature a majority of which was politically op- 
posed to him. He performed the important duties devolving upon 
him in this position with credit, and resigned the office in 1855. 
For three years succeeding he devoted himself with assiduity to his 
private business, at the same time, however, taking no inconsider- 
able interest in public and political affairs. In 1 85S he once more 
appeared in public life — this time as a member of the State Legis- 
lature at Raleigh. lie served in that body during that year and 
the two succeeding, obtaining a high reputation for attention to 
the interests of his constituents and devotion to the public busi- 
ness — especially the promotion of the finances and internal im- 
provements of the State. 

He was opposed to secession, and earnestly endeavored to pro- 
mote peaceful relations between the embittered sections. He was 
sent as a Peace Commissioner from the State of North Carolina to 
the Congress of the Southern States convened at Montgomery, 
Alabama, in 1861. All efforts to promote peace and good will 
between the North and South proved futile, and the war broke 
with fury upon the country. Mr. Ransom being, by birth, educa- 
287 



2 MATT W. RANSOM. 

tion and feeling a Southern man, cast in his lot with the Confed- 
erate States and entered the Southern army. He served as lieu- 
tenant-colonel, colonel, brigadier-general, and major-general. The 
close of the war in 1SC5 found him with General Lee, and with 
him he surrendered at Appomattox. He then returned to his 
estate in North Carolina, and engaged again in his pursuits as a 
planter and lawyer. He was identified with the Democratic party, 
although not seeking to act a prominent part in politics. Gover- 
nor Vance, who had been elected Senator from North Carolina, 
havinc been declared by the United States Senate ineligible, Mr. 
Ransom was elected to the position in January, 1S72, and took his 
seat, on the twenty-fourth of the following April, for the term 
ending in 1877. 

He entered upon his duties as a United States Senator with 
characteristic energy, devoting himself with industry to promoting 
the interests of his constituency. He labored faithfully to secure 
amnesty and the removal of political disabilities, and made sincere 
efforts to restore peace to the whole country. In person lie is tall 
and of fine presence, with unusually agreeable manners. 
288 



ELI SAULSBURY. 



I U^jfLI SAULSBURY was born in Kent county, Delaware, 
tj|& December 29, 1817. lie attended common and select 
i'Vv*^ schools, and pursued an irregular course of study at 

#>$% Dickinson College, Pennsylvania. He then studied law. 
and practiced bis profession in Dover. In 1853 and 1854, lie was 
a member of the Legislature of Delaware. He was elected as a 
Democrat to the United States Senate, to succeed his brother, 
Hon. "Willard Saulsbury, and took his seat March 4, 1871, for the 
term ending in 1877. He was appointed to the Committee on 
Pensions, the Committee on Mines and Mining, and the commit- 
tee to audit and control the contingent expenses of the Senate. 

On taking his seat in the Senate, Mr. Saulsbury began imme- 
diately to take an active part in the proceedings of that body. In 
a brief speech, delivered April 7, 1871, pending the resolution re- 
ported by the Joint Committee on Southern disorders, he opposed 
an investigation into the alleged outrages in the Southern States, 
believing that no good would result to the country from such 
investigation, and no information be thus afforded to the Senate 
that would enable it to offer the proper remedy. He deprecated 
the expense that would be involved, and asserted that the mea- 
sure was intended for political purposes only, while it would 
accomplish for the country no good whatever. 

In a much more extended speech, delivered April 12, 1871, in 
Committee of the Whole pending the consideration of the hill 
to enforce the provisions of the Fourteenth Amendment, Mr. 
Saulsbury took strong ground against that measure, animadvert- 
ing with much severity upon the conduct of the Republican 
Party and the operations of the administration. 
289 



2 ELI SAULSBURY. 

On the 30th of January, 1ST2, Mr. Saulsbury delivered an a!>le 
speech in favor of the removal of political disabilities. " I would 
be glad," said he, "to strike the tetters from every arm that is 
bound, and once more lift into the sunlight of freedom every man 
who is now fettered by the provisions of the Fourteenth Constitu- 
tional Amendment." lie opposed the amendment proposed by 
Mr. Sumner, securing equal rights to negroes. " I do protest," 
said he, "against this persistent effort to drag down the race to 
which I belong to a level with a race stamped with inferiority by 
the Author of their being." 

A .Senator having commended to Mr. Saulsbury the Report of 
the Committee on Alleged Southern Outrages as " profitable, if not 
pleasant reading" for the next Sunday, he responded : " I certainly 
would 1»' inclined to avail myself of any suggestion of the honor- 
able Senator from Indiana in reference to what is profitable reading 
for the Sabbath, but he must excuse me if I see proper to turn to 
the pages of the old Bible in preference to the report of this com- 
mittee." The religious element is strong in the character of Mr. 
Saulsbury, and appears prominently in many of his speeches. "I 
like the word 'mercy,'" said he in his Amnesty speech. "It is a 
charming word. It is the sweetest that ever fell on mortal ears. 
Through all the ages past Mercy has been the guardian angel of 
our race. When Justice barred (lie gates of Paradise against our 
federal head and all hisrace.it was Mercy that intervened and 
plead tin- cause of erring man." In the same speech, while de- 
claring that the effect of Mi'. Sumner's Supplementary Civil Rights 
bill would be the infusion of negroes into the churches, which 
would result in their being closed, and the ministers dismissed, he 
added, "that the Church will be destroyed there need be no fear, 
for it is written that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it; 
yet that it maybe annoyed, and perplexed, and persecuted all his- 
tory attests." 

Mr. Saulsbury is tall ami slender in person, with a scholarly stoop 
in his shoulders. He is pure in his character, true to his principles, 
and faithful to his State. 

290 




JWjU^Jy 






JOHX W. STEVENSON. 

^J|oHNW. STEVENSON was bom in Richmond, Virginia, 
' Tj- M:1 J 4 , 1812 - His mother, who died at his birth, waa 
*""~ M a daughter of John White, of the County of Hanover, 
His grandmother was a daughter of Carter Braxton, one of the 
signers of the Declaration of Independence. His father, Andrew- 
Stevenson, was a member of the Legislature for many years, and 
was Speaker of the House of Delegates. He was engaged in the 
practice of his profession in Richmond, where, though a young 
man, he held an enviable rank at tin/ bar. He devoted the greatesl 
care to the early education of his son, giving him the advantage of 
private tuition, under his own immediate supervision. When, in 
1821, lie went to Congress as a representative from Virginia, he 
took with him his son, that his education might he conducted under 
his direction. At Washington, he was consigned to the care of 
John McLeod, a teacher of high repute, who fitted him for Hamp- 
den Sidney College, which he entered at fourteen years of age. 
There he remained until the end of his sophomore year, when he 
was entered in the University of Virginia, and in that institution 
he finished his collegiate education, at the age of eighteen. After 
he left the university, his father placed him under the care of the 
Hon. Willonghhy New ton, of Westmoreland County, Virginia, with 
whom he studied law, and was admitted to the bar. 

During this period of his life, John W. Stevenson had many ad- 
vantages in his association with the distinguished statesmen of his 
country. With Jefferson and Madison he was a favorite ; and the 
time he spent, almost as a member of their families, in their society . 
produced a most marked influence on his character. He received 
from both the most admirable suggestions as to his course in life. 

Enjoying familiar intercourse with men who had contributed so 
29] 



2 JOHN \V. STEVENSON. 

much to define the principles of colonial, confederate, and constitu- 
tional law, John ~W. Stevenson was educated by these statesmen in 
the truest and purest teachings of American politics. Enjoying 
these rare advantages, and with a mind fresh from the acquire- 
ments of his collegiate education, these teachings of "the fathers" 
of the country made these indelible impressions which have had a 
marked effect upon his whole subsequent life. It is not too much 
to say of him, that his power at the bar, in the halls of legislation, 
in deliberative bodies, lias much of its effect from the training he re- 
ceived at Montpelier and Monticello, where his opening mind was 
impressed by the wisdom, experience, and earnest faith of these 
great statesmen. It wa> Mr. Madison who advised Mr. Stevenson 
to leave Virginia and settle in the West. He at once followed this 
advice, and left his home, and family and friends, and located himself 
in Vicksburg, Mississippi. There he began the practice of the law. 
It was a severe struggle. The law of the forum was less sought 
after by the indigent population of this new settlement than the 
law el' demand and supply of the actual necessaries of life. A few 
months were sufficient to demonstrate that success at the bar would 
be too tardy in Vicksburg, and Mi-. Stevenson removed to Covington, 

Kentucky, in 1SI0. The choi< I' a Location, and the time it was 

determined upon, were both fortunate. Covington was then a grow- 
ing, vigorous, and increasingly-importanl town, whose population 
presented a. phase of social and industrial progress which made Mr. 
Stevi nson's choice of a heme eminently advantageous to him. He 
at once entered upon his professional life in his adopted residence. 
Yen soon it was made apparent to the people that Mr. Stevenson 
possessed all those qualities which were essential in a leader of 
public opinion, and an exponent and defender of those principles of 
government which Virginia had expounded and Kentucky indorsed 
and sustained in the first trials of the constitution of the United 
States, after its adoption and during its earliest operation as the ex- 
periment of American liberty with law. During all these years of 
Mr. Stevenson's life he was receiving, from time to time, the coun- 
sel of his father and his friends in Virginia. Andrew Stevenson 
was then one of the foremost men in the councils of the country. 
292 



JOHN W. STEVENSON. 3 

In 1821, lie was first elected to Congress, where he remained as 
Virginia's representative till 1834 From 1827 to the expiration of 
his last term in Congress he was its Speaker. It was in these memo- 
rable years that Livingston, Stevenson, Ritchie, of the " Richmond 

Enquirer," and Mr. Blair, of the "Globe," were among the chosen 
confidential advisers of Andrew Jackson. The " veto message," the 
"proclamation" against nullification, and those greal state papers 
of that renowned sage and soldier-President, were either elaborated 
or finished by the pens of these giants in the political contests of 
those times. So signal and so highly appreciated were the services 
of Andrew Stevenson that he was sent to represent the United 
States at the British court, from 1836 to 1841, where he rose to the 
first rank among the envoys and ambassadors who made the court 
of St. James, at the beginning of Victoria's reign, so remarkable. 
It is not, then, to be overlooked, that John W. Stevenson was 
ripening, under the instruction he had received and was still receiv- 
ing, into a lawyer and a statesman of admitted ability and growing 
preeminence. 

The few years John W. Stevenson had been a citizen of Coving- 
ton made for him the character which was so well suited to his 
future. In 1815, he was elected to the Legislature of Kentucky, 
and reelected in 1816 and 1S17. His service in the Legislature 
gave evidence of his ability and preparation for the duties attend- 
ing this responsibility. So marked was his capacity, and so efficient 
were his services, that he left the Legislature with a high character 
and large popularity. This was shown by the people in 1849, when 
he was elected to the convention which was charged with the duty 
of altering and amending the constitution of the State. In this 
convention Mr. Stevenson took a leading position. His line of 
study, his acquirements, his thorough grounding in the principles 
of government, gave him a power in that convention which its 
proceedings show. In 1841, 184S, 1852, and in 1856, he was re- 
elected as a representative in the national conventions of the Demo 
cratic Party, and twice he was senatorial elector for Kentucky. 
Such services, and the manner he always acquitted himself, rendered 
bis name a commanding influence in his State and before the coun- 
293 



JOHN W . STEVENSON. 

try. He -was appointed one of the commissioners to revise the 
criminal and civil code of Kentucky, and performed the duty thus 
devolving upon him to the satisfaction of the har, the bench, and 
the people. 

Mr. Stevenson was elected a representative from Kentucky to the 
Thirty-fifth and Thirty-sixth Congresses. In this sphere of public 
service he maintained his well-earned reputation. In debate he 
was impressive, and held the attention of the House by his power 
of condensation, his strong and powerful presentation of his views, 
and his faith in his political principles. 

During the civil war, Mr. Stevenson was consistent, dignified, and 
true to the teachings of bis youth. Endeared to the people of his 
State by his devotion to their interests while in their service, he was 
chosen by them as lieutenanl governor in 1867, and in the follow- 
in-- year lie was elected governor. While filling the executive 
chair of Kentucky, he was subjected to severe tests, both of admin- 
istrative capacity and thorough statesmanship. The geographical 
position of the State, its past history, the trials the people were 
forced to undergo, and the anomalous condition of the relations of 
a State with the federal government which arose out of the civil 
war, made the duties of his office more serious and complicated 
than those of any other State. 

Tried as he was, lie proved equal to all the exigencies. His mes- 
sages, his public addresses, his care of the rights of the State, the 
interests and welfare of the people, his prudence and judgment, 
force of character ami unbending integrity, are parts of the history 
of Kentucky. 

Near the close of his term of service as governor, the Legislature, 
representing the people of the State, witnesses as its members 
were to his signal ability, courage, and force in the executive de- 
partment, determined to seal with their approval an official life 
which had so won their admiration. At the session of the Legisla- 
ture in 1870, he was elected to represent. Kentucky in the Senate of 
the United States, and resigning just before the term of governor 
expired, he took his seat in the Senate on the 4th of March, 1871. 
29-1 



JOSEPH R. WEST. 



« |^r OSEPH RODMAN WEST was born in the city of New 
i^Jl> Orleans, Louisiana, September 19, 1822. At an early age 
2W^J lie was taken North by his parents, and at fourteen entered 
the Pennsylvania University. Ho did not, however, ad- 
vance to graduation, but at the end of two years, withdrew from 
the university, and returned to New-Orleans. At the breaking 
out of the Mexican war, he entered the army as a private, and rose 
to the rank of captain of cavalry. 

On the return of peace, Captain West emigrated to California. 
Here he engaged in mercantile pursuits, and was one of the origi- 
nators of the " Price Current " of San Francisco, and, for a number 
of years, one of its principal editors. At the commencement of the 
war of the Rebellion, he entered the Union service as lieutenant- 
colonel of a regiment of California cavalry, and marched, with his 
regiment, a distance of fifteen hundred miles over the plains to 
Western Texas. He also, during the war, served in important 
movements in Arkansas and the South-west, and was promoted, Btep 
by step, until he attained the rank of brigadier-general of volun- 
teers, and was breveted major-general. 

At the end of the war, General West settled temporarily in 
Texas ; but at the appointment of General Herron as United States 
Marshal, he accepted the place of chief-deputy marshal for the 
New-Orleans district, retaining the position during General Herron 
entire term of office. Shortly afterward he was, under the new 
city charter, appointed by Governor Warmoth administrator of im- 
provements, this being one of the most important of the municipal 
positions created by the law. Here the people had the opportunity 
of observing his official acts, the untiring industry, the promptness 
295 



2 JOSEPH R. WEST. 

and correctness of decision, and the comprehensive ability that 
have earned for him the reputation of being one of the best execu- 
tive men of the State. As chief of a great department, he had few 
equals, and scarcely a. superior. He is a staunch supporter of the 
Union of the States under the constitution, and strongly attached to 
the principles of the Republican Party as a means of such union and 
of the prosperity of the country. 

His party in Louisiana gave the highest indorsement to his abili- 
ties and principles by electing him to the Senate of the United 
Stall-, in which body In' took his scat March -±, 1871, for the term 
of six years. On the occasion of his election to this high office, the 
press of the countj gave cordial approval of the selection, and ex- 
pression of hopes of liis sin-cess and usefulness in the national coun 
cils. "He is possessed," says the "New-Orleans Picayune," " of 
remarkable administrative abilities; and, if we may judge of him 
in the more elevated position to which he has been called, by his 
course in our city council, we are assured that he will be fully 
equal to any emergency that may arise." " lie will prove," says 
another journal, "an able and valuable member of that highly 
dignified and respectable body of men, and guard with jealous care 
the interests committed to his trust." 

General West's residence for a time in California has been 
already alluded to ; and on his election to the Senate, the following 
commendatory words were heard from that distant State: 

"In Senator Wesl we are certain to find a warm and intelligent 
friend, who will exercise much influence in procuring desirable legis- 
lation for this coast, a- well as for the important State he has been 
called upon to represent. ... As a senator, we have no hesitation 
in predicting that he will make an honorable record, even among 
the more experienced and able of his associates. California will 
find a true, consistent, and influential friend in Joseph Rodman 
West." 

296 



WILLIAM WLTOOM. 




^ILLIAM WINDOM was born in Belmont County, Ohio, 



May 10, 1S27. Pie received an academical education, 
J^fF studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1850. He 
was elected prosecnting-attorney for Knox County, Ohio, in 1852. 
In 1S56 he removed to Minnesota, making his home in Winona, 
where he engaged in tin' practise of law and in political pursuits. 
He soon attracted the attention and acquired the confidence of the 
people of his adopted State, and was elected a Representative from 
Minnesota to the Thirty-sixth Congress, in which he served on the 
Committee on Public Lands, and on the Special Committee of 
Thirty-three on the rebellious States. Re-elected to the Thirty- 
seventh Congress, he served on the Committee on Public Expendi- 
tures. In the Thirty-eighth Congress he was chairman of the Com- 
mittee on Indian Affairs, and of the Special Committee to visit the 
Indian tribes of the West. He was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth 
Congress, served on the Committee on the death of President 
Lincoln, and was chairman of a Special Committee on the conduct 
of the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. He was re-elected to the 
Fortieth Congress, receiving 13,961 votes against 8,021 for the 
Democratic candidate. In his capacity as chairman of the Commit- 
tee on Indian Affairs, he introduced and advocated several measures 
relating to that important subject. He secured the passage in the 
House of a bill originating in the Senate designed "to establish 
peace with certain hostile Indian tribes." with which the United 
States were at war at an expense of $1,000,000 per week. lie op- 
posed a bill, which passed the House, restoring the Bureau of Indian 
Affairs to the War Department. At the close of the Fortieth Con- 
gress Mr. Wiudom declined a re-election. 
297 



2 WILLIAM WIND OM. 

Soon after the close of his service in the House of Representa- 
tives, Mr. Windom was elected to the Senate of the United 
States, and took his seat on the 4th of March, 1871. His first 
speech in that body was a brief expression of his approval 
of an appropriation for the subsistence of certain Indians "who 
have been collected and located upon the reservation set apart 
for their use and occupation by the treaties made with them in 
1867." In support of this appropriation he said : " For several 
years, while Chairman of the Committee on Indian Affairs in the 
other House, I struggled for the adoption of the policy to feed 
rather than fight the Indians. I have been exceedingly gratified 
with the results of the policy so far, as they have been tested by 
this Administration. I think that in nothing has it shown its wisdom 
more than in this policy. I should be very unwilling now to return 
to the old method of fighting, by failing to keep our agreement 
with the Indians. ... So far as the management of Indians is con- 
cerned I have always been a Quaker ; I am so today ; and I be- 
lieve that if we continue the policy which is adopted we shall bo 
freed from Indian wars in the future. Let us not return to the bad 
policy of the past." 

Mr. Windom introduced a bill to prevent the destruction of tim- 
ber on lauds of the United States. In his remarks, March 7, 1872, 
advocating an appropriation for the employment of additional 
clerks in the General Land Office, Mr. Windom said : " The set- 
tlement, population, and improvement of our public lands is of 
vast importance. I believe we are all agreed in the advocacy of 
any policy that will tend to the settlement and development of our 
great public domain Now if we desire to encourage the settle- 
ment of these lauds, let us give to the office that has to do with 
their settlement all the necessary force that may be called for in 
order to promote their settlement." 

He advocated the passage of the Soldiers and Sailors' Home- 
stead Bill. Though seldom indulging in set speeches, he has made 
brief and pertinent remarks upon most of the important subjects 
of legislation. 

298 



GEOEGE G. WEIGHT. 



•^Spv EORGE G. WRIGHT was bora in Bloomington, Indi- 

rjV ana, March 24, 1820. lie was a cripple from the age of 

. I- four years, and utntble to attend school, except occasionally, 

until he was near twelve. He became a student in the State 

University at his native place, being one of two scholars sent under 

a State law which allowed that number of free pupils from each 

county. His father had died when he was five years old, and his 

two older brothers assumed all his expenses except that of tuition, 

his mother being unable to help him, as she had a large family. 

After his graduation he studied law with one of these brothers, 

Hon. Joseph A. Wright, who was afterward Governor of Indiana, 

a Senator in Congress, and American Minister at Berlin. 

In October, 1840, Mr. Wright removed to Keosauqua, Iowa, and 
began the practice of his profession. He remained in this place 
until 1865, when he removed to Des Moines, where he has since 
resided. His practice extended all through what is known as the 
Des Moines valley, comprising some fourteen counties lying on both 
sides of the river, a hundred and twenty miles in length and fifty 
miles in width. Journeys were made on horseback, and in every 
way known to frontier life, and were attended with many stirring 
incidents. 

In 1847 and 1848 he was Prosecuting Attorney. In 1849 he 
was elected to the State Senate, in which he served two terms. In 
his second term he was the only Whig who held the chairmanship 
of a Committee, as the Democrats had a majority. lie was the 
only Whig upon the important Committee having in charge the 
Code of 1851, which was adopted at that session owing largely to Mr. 
Wright's strenuous exertions. In 1850 he was nominated for Rep- 
resentative in Congress, greatly against his own wishes, and was 
299 



2 GEORGE G. WRIGHT. 

defeated, the district being strongly Democratic. The usual 
majority, however, was greatly decreased. In 185-t he was chosen 
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court - of Iowa. In 1860, the Consti- 
tution having been changed, he was elected to the same office by 
the people, and was re-elected in 1865. 

He was for five years President of the Iowa State Agricultural 
Society, beginning in 1860, and for about the same length of time 
was President of the County Society in Van Buren County, where 
he lived. He was a professor in the law department of the Iowa 
State University for six years, beginning in 1865. His nomination 
for Judge was made with unanimity, and during the whole time 
that he served the people he never ran behind the other candidates 
on the tickets in any election. In aid of benevolent, agricultural, 
and literary societies, he has given many lectures and addresses on 
various subjects pertaining to the State and its history, and on legal 
and other topics. 

He was elected to the United States Senate as a Republican, and 
took his seat March 4. 1871, for the term ending in 1877. He was 
appointed a member of the Committee on Finance and the Com- 
mittee on Claims. In the second session of the Forty-second Con- 
gress he was appointed on the Committee on Revision of the Laws, 
and on the Special Committee to investigate the charges against 
Senator Clayton, of Arkansas. He is one of the most pains- 
taking and laborious members of the Senate. His speeches on the 
most important questions pending in the Senate uniformly evince 
careful preparation, laborious research, and strong argumentative 
ability. 

300 



EIOHARD J. OGLESBY. 



^pFlOHAED JAMES OGLESBY was born in Oldham Coun- 
\J£% ty, Kentucky, July 25, 1824. He came to Illinois when 
JA^jl he was about twelve years old, settling at Decatur, which 
ever since has been his home. Both of his parents died 
before he had arrived at an age to appreciate a mother's love or 
profit by a father's advice and aid. His early life was passed in a 
country and in a time in which education, in its present significance, 
had not become popular, and he never had the advantage of so 
much as twelve months of schooling in the whole course of his life. 
At the age of sixteen years he returned to his native county, where 
he learned the carpenter's trade, and afterward worked at it in De- 
catur until the year 1843. 

In 1844 he commenced the study of law with Judge Robbins, of 
Springfield, and began the practice at Sullivan, Illinois, in 1S45. 
His professional duties were soon interrupted, however, by the Mex- 
ican war, and, returning to Decatur, he was active in raising a com- 
pany, of which he was elected first lieutenant. He took part in the 
siege of Yera Cruz, and commanded his company at Cerro Gordo, 
showing throughout the campaign that spirit and bravery which dis- 
tinguished him in the greater war of later years. 

Returning from the Mexican war, Oglesby took a full law course, 
and received his diploma at the Louisville Law School. He then 
developed an ardent desire for travel and adventure. He crossed 
the plains to California in 1849, when such an undertaking was 
hazardous, and worked two years in the mines. He subseciuently 
visited Europe, Egypt, and the Holy Land. 

Oglesby's political career began in 1852, when he was an elector 
on the Whig ticket. In 1858 he was a Republican candidate for 
301 



RICHARD J. OGLESBY. 2 

Congress against Hon. James C. Robinson, and reduced the stand- 
ard Democratic majority by several thousand. In 1860 he was 
elected to the State Senate, but resigned his seat in 1861 to volun- 
teer his services in the war against the rebellion. He was commis- 
sioned Colonel of the Eighth Illinois regiment, and was from the 
first among the most active and successful commanders in the West- 
ern armies, always holding responsible positions above his rank. 

Colonel Oglesby first commanded the forces stationed at Cairo, 
Illinois, and then those at Bird's Point, Missouri. He joined in 
the general movement, made by Grant against the rebel army at 
Belmont. Transferred to the command of a new brigade in the 
army of West Tennessee, he was the first to enter Fort Henry, and 
led the advance to Fort Donelson through the sharpest skirmishing 
of the war. On the 15th of February, 1862, his command was at- 
tacked by the rebel army, and lost one fifth of its number in its gal- 
lant resistance. On the first of April, 1862, he was commissioned 
brigadier-general for gallant conduct at the battle of Fort Donelson. 
After the evacuation of Corinth, General Oglesby commanded an 
entire division for several months; but on the return of the com- 
manding officer he took charge of his own brigade, and led it into 
the terrible battle of Corinth on the 3d of October, 1862. From 
this battle-field Colonel Oglesby was carried, as it seemed, in a 
dying condition. A ball had entered his left lung, whence it lias 
never vet been extracted. For his gallant conduct in this battle he 
was promoted at once from brigadier-general to the rank of major- 
general, above his superiors in command. He returned to the field 
as soon as he was able to do so, but the pains from his wound were 
so acute that he was compelled to tender his resignation. This was 
accepted six months afterward, when it was apparent that he could 
no longer endure the hard-hips of the campaign. 

The people of Illinois paid an immediate and hearty tribute to 
the patriotism of General Oglesby by electing him Governor of 
the State by the largest majority ever given for any officer. He 
was inagnrated Governor on the 16th of January, 1865, for the 
term of four years. The unanimity of the choice was gracefully 
302 ' 



3 RICHARD J. OGLESBT. 

recognized in his inaugural address. ' : I do not disguise the fact," 
he said, " nor do I desire to do so, that I have been chosen to this 
high position by the Onion people of our State without regard to 
party, and am expected by them to administer its executive affairs 
with a view to no partisan or selfish purposes, and thus, relieved of 
many of the burdens which usually attend a mere party triumph, 
am left free with you to follow the path of duty pointed out so 
clearly that I hope to be able to adhere to it." 

Governor Oglesby in his administration fulfilled the promise of 
his inaugural. His term was one of the most trying and exacting, 
but he gave entire satisfaction to the people who elected him. 

At the close of his gubernatorial term he retired to private life 
at Decatur, Illinois, but was not suffered long to remain apart from 
public affairs. In May, 1872, he was again nominated for Gov- 
ernor, to which office he was elected by a majority of more than 
forty-one thousand votes. He was inaugurated Governor on the 
13th of January, 1873. On the !22d of the same month he was 
elected to the United States Senate, receiving one hundred and 
nineteen votes against eighty-six for Hon. Lyman Trumbull, and 
on the following day he resigned the office of Governor. He en- 
tered upon his duties as United States Senator on the 4th of March, 
1873, and was appointed on the Committees on Public Lands, Indian 
Affairs, and Pensions. He took the prominent and active part in 
the proceedings of the Senate to which his abilities and experience 
entitled him. Able in debate, faithful in his devotion to public 
business, and honorable in all the relations of life, he holds high 
rank as a Senator and a statesman. 
303 



GEOEGE GOLDTHWAITE. 



'/fify'* EORGE GOLDTHWAITE was born in Boston, Massa- 
v^fif? musetts, December 10, 1809. He received an academic 

%J> education in the schools of his native city. He removed 
to Alabama, studied law, and was admitted to practice in 1827. 
He was elected Judge of the Circuit Court, in 1843, by the Legis- 
lature, and was re-elected to the same office by the people in 1850. 
In the following year he was appointed one of a commission of three 
to prepare a Code of Laws for Alabama, which was reported to and 
accepted by the Legislature of 1852. 

He was elected Judge of the Supreme Court in 1851, but re- 
signed in 1853 to allow the court to be reorganized. He was re- 
elected by the Legislature, and was subsequently Chief-Justice of 
the State of Alabama. He resigned in 1856, and resumed the 
practice of law. 

Upon the passage of the ordinance of Secession by Alabama in 
January, 1861, Mr. Goldthwaite was appointed Adjutant General 
of the State, which position he held during the war. Ho was 
elected Circuit Judge in 1866, and occupied the bench until 1868, 
when he was removed under the Reconstruction Acts. He then 
resumed the successful practice of the law. On the 7th of Decem- 
ber, 1870, he was elected to the United States Senate, as a Demo- 
crat, for the term ending March 3, 1877. Near the beginning of 
the second session of the Forty-second Congress his case was acted 
on by the Committee on Privileges and Elections, who recom- 
mended that he he admitted to his seat immediately on the prima 
facie evidence furnished by his certificate of election. The case, 
however, went over until after the holidays, when the Senate voted 
to admit him, and he was sworn in on the 15th of January, 1872. 
304 




&*/#&&«. 



WILLIAM B. ALLISON. 




pf?ILLIAM B. ALLISON was born in Perry, "Wayne 
County, Ohio, March 2, 1S29. He passed I is boyhood 
father's farm. He received the rudiments of learning by 
attending the common school in the winter, work on the farm re- 
quiring his attention during the summer. In his youth and early 
manhood, however, he had the advantages of a liberal course of 
education, pursuing his studies at Alleghany College, Pennsylvania, 
and at Western Reserve College, Ohio. He was a diligent student, 
and while making proficiency in the regular studies of college 
found time to read extensively in history and general literature. 

Upon the completion of his collegiate course he resolved to make 
the law his profession, and after a more thorough course than usual 
was admitted to tlio practice. After practicing with success in 
Ohio for a few years, in 1857 he removed to Dubuque, Iowa. The 
financial crisis of that year was peculiarly disastrous in Iowa. 
There were at that time no banks in the State. They had been 
prohibited by law, and hence the State was the receptacle of all 
the worthless bank-notes of the country. When the "wild cat" 
institutions blew up with the tremendous crash of 1857, the people 
of Iowa had their pockets and coffers full of bank-notes, but no 
money. There was absolute distress in hundreds of families inde- 
pendently rich but a short time before the crisis. The citj of 
Dubuque shared in the general misfortune. It was a dark day for 
beginning life in a new home, but Mr. Allison was not discouraged 
by the gloomy outlook. Skillful in his profession, attentive to bis 
duties, and affable to all, he soon had all the business be desired. 

In politics he was an earnest, active Republican, but was in the 
minority in Dubuque, and had little opportunity for distinction. 
305 



2 WILLIAM B. ALLISON. 

Iii 1S60, however, he was chosen one of the delegates to attend the 
Eepublican National Convention at Chicago, when he aided in the 
nomination of Abraham Lincoln. In 1SG2 he was nominated for 
Representative in Congress. He made a thorough canvass of the 
district, speaking in all the counties, numbering not less than 
twelve, and in some of them more than once. His majority was 
three thousand six hundred and sixty in a vote of about twenty- 
one thousand. 

Mr. Allison was the youngest man in the delegation, which num- 
bered six, and the only one without actual experience in legislative 
bodies or public office. Encouraged by the hearty friendship of 
his colleagues, and by that of several distinguished representatives 
from other States, he entered upon his duties with zeal, and with 
stndious habits which have never been laid aside, and which have 
given him remarkable success as a legislator. Mr. Allison sustained 
all the great measures brought forward in the Thirty-eighth Con- 
gress for the carrying on of the war, and for the development of 
the country, especially of the North-west. He procured the land 
grant for a railway through Iowa, westward from M'Gregor. lie 
also introduced a hill for the improven ent of the navigation of the 
Mississippi, and at length succeeded in having the measure adopted. 
In all the political contests of the period he voted for the most rad- 
ical measures, and against every hill or resolution looking to the 
adoption of rose-water warfare against the rebels. lie voted for 
those great measures of freedom passed by this Congress — the 
repeal of the Fugitive Slave Law, and the resolution for the Thir- 
teenth Constitutional Amendment. Against extravagance in every 
shape he gave his vote without deviation. 

During the first session of this Congress he made a set speech 
upon the bill relating to homesteads on forfeited estates. It was 
an evening session. He had a fine audience, and made a good im- 
pression both on House and galleries. He took ground in favor 
of every measure for the suppression of the Rebellion, which the 
most radical Republicans had believed necessary, including the 
measure under direct discussion. " If we hope to attain success in 
306 



WILLIAM B. ALLISON. 



s 



this contest," he remarked near the close of his speech, "we must 
guaranty to all the privileges of religion, of family, of property, 
and of liberty." 

Mr. Allison was re-elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress by a 
majority of about three thousand votes. He was assigned a place 
on the Committee of "Ways and Means, and was, during the entire 
time of his subsequent service in the House, one of the most 
laborious and efficient workers on that committee, a membership of 
which ranks about with the chairmanship of most other commit- 
tees. Entirely familiar with all the financial measures >f the Gov- 
ernment, having a thorough knowledge of their practical results, 
and knowing, by attentive observation, the commercial, material, 
and general business interests of the country, he was frequently 
designated by the Committee to take charge of important measures 
recommended for passage. His speech on the Loan Bill, and that 
on the trade of British America, made during the first session of 
this Congress, showed a thorough knowledge of trade and finance. 
We find him in this Congress successfully speaking in favor of the 
improvement of the Mississippi River, for which he had himself 
introduced a bill, and in favor of the Xiagara Ship Canal. We 
find him also favoring a wiser and better administration of the 
affairs of the Agricultural Department, the placing of agricultural 
implements on the free li>t. and in other ways manifesting a special 
regard for that great industry of the country in which he was born 
and nurtured. We find him speaking earnestly for radical measures 
of general policy, advocating and voting for the Fourteenth Consti- 
tutional Amendment, for the Civil Eights Bill, and the Freedi 
Bureau Bill. It was a period of great political excitement, the 
conflict between the Executive and the Legislative Departments 
of the Government being carried to the pitch of fury on the part 
of President Johnson, and with the firmest determination on the 
part of Congress. Throughout this remarkable contest Mr. Allison 
was undisguisedly outspoken in hostility to the President and his 
policy of reconstruction. 

Mr. Allison was renominated bv his party for the third time in 
307 



4 WILLIAM B. ALLISON. 

18G6, and was elected over a popular competitor by a majority of 
five thousand votes. When the question of impeachment came up 
Mr. Allison took emphatic grounds in favor of the measure, making 
an able speech on the subject on the 24th of February, 1868. 

The opposition had begun to make war on the Republicans for 
their management of the public finances. Subjects of this kind were 
the chief matters of discussion in the Presidential campaign of 
1868. Mr. Allison's speech on the finances, and the frauds and 
peculations of many then holding office under Mr. Johnson, had 
as much circulation and influence in the campaign as any other 
document. After a very exciting canvass Mr. Allison was re- 
elected a Representative to the Forty-first Congress by a majority 
of six thousand votes. < >ne of his most successful speeches during 
this Congress was delivered March 24 and 25 on the Tariff. Al- 
though he did not advocate free-trade, he favored certain re- 
forms in the tariff laws, which were substantially incorporated in 
legislation. 

Refusing to be again a candidate for Representative in Congress 
Mr. Allison returned to Ills home in Dubuque, where he engaged 
in various business enterprises tending to develop the resources of 
the city and the State. Ee was not, however, permitted to remain 
long in retirement. In January, 1S73, he was elected to the Senate 
of the United States, to succeed lion. James Harlan, and on the 
4th of March took his seat in that body for the term ending in 1879. 
He was appointed on the Committees on Appropriations, Indian 
Affairs, and the Library. 

Mr. Allison has a fine personal presence, with keen black eyes, 
and a pleasant expression. His bead is large and well formed. 
His manners are agreeable, and his bearing such as to command 
respect. Every part of bis public career and private life bears tes- 
timony to the fact that he is an honest and true man. 



:',<!< 





/: 




O 



LEWIS Y. BOGY. 



jjg-^ KWIS V. BOGY was born in St. Genevieve County,Mis- 
Bouri, April 9, 1S13. His mother's family, of the name of 
Beauvais, were among the earliest settlers in Missouri. His 
father, Joseph Bogy, who was of Scotch descent, was a 
native of Kaskaskia, Illinois. He filled the responsible position of 
private secretary to Governor Morales, while the States of Louisiana 
and Missouri were under the Spanish domination. When Missouri 
became a territory he was chosen a member of the Territorial 
Council. When it was admitted into the Union he was elected 
to the Legislature ; and for many years he was Cashier of the old 
Bank of Missouri at St. Genevieve. 

Lewis learned the rudiments of education under a Swiss instructor 
who kept the little school of St. Genevieve. Much of his time was 
spent in working on the farm, until he was attacked by a malady 
which rendered him unfit for labor. While he was thus disabled 
and suffering from "white swelling'' he carefully cultivated his 
mind and read all the books he could obtain. In 1830 he took 
the situation of clerk in a store at a salary of two hundred dollars 
per annum, one half of which he contracted to take out in trade. 
However, from the frugality of his habits lie managed to purchase 
some books from his income. He read by snatches of time some 
elementary books of law, and resolutely undertook the study of the 
Latin language, under the instruction of Father Condamine, an ac- 
complished scholar. 

In January, 1S32, he went to Kaskaskia, and read law in the 

office of Judge Pope until May of that year. He volunteered for 

the Black Hawk War, was engaged in two desperate battles with 

the Indians, and was present at the capture of Black Hawk. After 

309 



2 LEWIS V. BOGY. 

the conclusion of the Indian campaign Mr. Bogy returned to Kas- 
kaskia, where he continued the study of law until 1833, when he 
went to Lexington, Kentucky, and further prosecuted his studies at 
Transylvania University, under the instruction of Judge Mays, an 
eminent jurist of that day. In the spring of 1831 he commenced 
teaching a country school so as to liquidate the debt he had con- 
tracted while studying in the winter, and also to gather resources to 
complete his course. This he accomplished, and, returning to Mis- 
souri in the spring of 1835. he settled in the city of St. Louis, where 
lie commenced the practice of his profession. From the very first 
Mr. Bogy was successful as a lawyer, and the first fees he received 
from his clients lie sent to Judge Mays to discharge a debt due for 
instruction. 

Mi-. Bogy was elected to the State LegislatureMn 1840. He also 
served in that body in 1s.~it 5, and made an effective speech on the 
passage of the Railroad Law. which Governor Price vetoed, hut 
which was passed over the veto mainly because of that speech. 

In 1847 he purchased an interest in Pilot Knob, the richest iron 
deposit in Missouri. Owing to its great distance — forty-seven miles 
from tlir Mississippi -many owning shares in the corporation be- 
came discouraged and disposed of their interest, which Mi-. Bogy 
immediately purchased. The Iron Mountain Railroad, in which 
the Pilot Knob Iron Company invested fifty thousand dollars, 
was built to Pilot Ivnoh, and had much to do in developing the re- 
sources of the region. Mr. Bogy was elected President of the St. 
Louis and Iron Mountain Railroad, and continued in that position 
for two years, and until the c unmencement of the late war, when, 
not being in sympathy with the prevailing Northern sentiments, he 
was compelled to relinquish the position. His administration of 
the affairs of the road was very aide and energetic. After retiring 
from the presidency of the road In- resumed the practice of his pro- 
fession, which, however, he did not, continue long. On account of 
his supposed sympathy witli the South he was compelled to relin- 
quish the law, not being able to take the oath required of lawyers 
to qualify them to appear in the trial of cases in court. 
310 



LEWIS V. BOGY. 3 

Mr. Bogy had previously filled with honor several important 
positions in St. Louis. He was the first President vi' the Excl 
Bank, and was a Commissioner of Public Schools. In 1852 hi 

a candidate of the Democratic Party in opposition to the distin- 
guished Thomas H. Benton. In 1863 Ids friends forced upon him 
the Democratic nomination as a candidate lor Congress in the St. 
Louis District against General F. P. Blair, Jun. He accepted the 
nomination with no hope of an election, but simply to lend his 
influence to the maintenance of party organization and the pro- 
tection of his political friends. Recently he filled the office of 
Alderman and President of the City Council. The duties of this 
position he discharged with ability, and to the entire satisfaction of 
both parties represented in the body over which he presided. 

The Pilot Knob locality was during the war a great center for 
military operations. Late in the year 1S84 General Price made 
his raid in Missouri, and encamped with his army at Pilot 
Knob, where a severe battle was fought. Shells accidentally fell 
upon the buildings of the ironworks, setting them on tire, and de- 
stroying two large furnaces then running, and yielding forty tons 
of iron per day. All business was in consequence suspended. 
The furnaces had to be rebuilt, requiring large means and long 
time. Having devoted the best years of his life to this great en- 
terprise, he was unwilling to give it any more of his time and 
money. He consequently sold out his entire interest in a business 
which is now one of the most prosperous and remunerative in the 
country. 

In the fall of 1860 President Johnson tendered him the position 
of Commissioner of Indian Affairs. After a good deal of hesita- 
tion, and not without a full knowledge that it would involve him 
in great pecuniary loss, he accepted the position, and proceeding to 
Washington, took charge of the office. 

At that time the entire Indian country was involved in war, the 

result of the bad management of the Indian Department. "When 

he left the office peace and friendship existed with every tribe. 

While in this position he acquired a national reputation, exhibiting 

311 



4 LEWIS V. BOGY. 

the highest administrative ability, and an integrity beyond the 
reach of all the rings surrounding this department. 

He retained the Commissionership until the end of the ensuing 
session of Congress, when a Republican Senate refused to confirm 
his nomination. The leading Republican Senators, who could not, 
under strict party rules, vote for his confirmation, yet desired his 
continuance in office, and for this reason action on his nomination 
was postponed to the last day of the session. So useful had he 
shown himself that the Secretary of the Interior retained him for 
some time afterward as Special Commissioner. 

In January, 1873, Mr. Bogy was elected United States Senator 
by the Legislature of Missouri, to succeed General F. P. Blair, Jun. 
He took his seat in the Senate on the 4th day of March, 1873. 
During the entire war he was true to his Democratic antecedents, 
sharing all the time the dark fortunes of his party. His election to 
the Senate was an emphatic expression of the Democratic principles 
and policy as re-established in the State. His home reputation is 
that of an able, decided, and truly honest man. His friends expect 
that he will not only be true and faithful to the traditions of his 
party, but will be an able defender of its principles on the floor of 
the Senate. 

312 



GEORGE S. BOUT WELL. 



?EORGE 8. BOUTWELL was born in Brookline, Massachu- 
setts, January 2Sth, ISIS. lie learned to read at hid 
mother's knee while she read the large family Bible. Be- 
ing a fanner's son, his assistance was required at home during the 
greater part of the year, so that his training in the schools was lim- 
ited to a few weeks of the winter. Whether in school or out, he 
prosecuted his studies most diligently, and when seventeen years of 
age he taught school in Shirley, Massachusetts. 

In March, 1S35, he went to Groton and commenced business as 
clerk in a store. In the second story of the store there was kept an 
old but well-selected library. This was more fortunate for young 
Boutwell than the discovery of a mine of gold. In the absence of 
customers, and in the intervals of business, he read during the day. 
At nine o'clock, when the store was closed, he would repair to the 
library and read till overcome by drowsiness, when he would arouse 
himself by physical exercise, or plunging his head in a pail of water 
at hand for that purpose. He pursued the study of Latin and French, 
and made proficiency in other branches, such as gave him rank in 
scholastic attainments equal to that attained by college graduates. 
At the age of eighteen he entered his name in an attorney's office for 
the study of law, which he pursued with diligence in the intervals 
of business, for many years. 

At nineteen he made his first public appearance in a lecture before 
the Groton Lyceum. In 1S40 he entered with youthful ardor into 
politics, advocating the election of Mr. Van Buren. At the age of 
twenty-one he was elected a member of the School Committee of 
Groton, a large town of more than usual wealth and culture. In the 
same year he was the candidate of the Democratic party for the Leg- 
313 



2 4E0RGE S LOUTWIiLL. 

islature, but failed to be elected. He was again nominated, however, 
and in 1842 was elected to the Legislature, in which he served for seven 
years. He soon became a leading member, surpassing all in thorough 
mastery of the subjects discussed, and in readiness and ability as a 
debater. He ably and successfully advocated the question of retrench- 
ment of expenses, enlargement of the school fund, and Harvard Col- 
lege reform. 

During his service in the Legislature Mr. Boutwell was also Rail- 
way Commissioner, Bank Commissioner, and three times a Demo- 
cratic candidate for Congress. He also delivered numerous lyceum 
lectures and political addresses. 

In 1S51 he was elected Governor of Massachusetts, and held the 
office two terms. He was a member of the Constitutional Conven- 
tion of 1853, in which he was a recognized leader. Rufus Choate 
was his leading opponent. Early in the session, the subject of 
" Town Representation " being under consideration, Mr. Choate made 
one of his most characteristically eloquent speeches, which completely 
carried away the Convention. Mr. Boutwell rose to reply, surpris- 
ing many with his apparent temerity in attempting to meet the most 
brilliant orator of the Whigs. But all apprehension of a damaging 
comparison or a failure soon passed away. He enchained the atten- 
tion of the Convention, and maintained his cause with signal ability. 
He drafted and reported the Constitution, which was submitted to 
the people and adopted. 

The same year Mr. Boutwell became a member of the State Board 
of Education, in which he remained ten years. For five years he 
was Secretary of the Board, meanwhile preparing its Annual Re- 
port-, and publishing a "Manual of the School System and School 
Laws of Massachusetts," and a volume on "Educational Topics and 
Institutions." In 1856 his literary and scientific attainments were 
recognized in his election as a member of the American Academy of 
Arts and Sciences. From 1851 to 1860 he was a member of the 
Board of Overseers of Harvard College. 

In 1853 Mr. Boutwell cast his last vote with the Democratic party, 
the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, in 1854, completely sunder 
314 



GEORGE S . BOUT WELL. 3 

ing his eld political ties. He was a leader iu the organization of the 
Republican party in Massachusetts. 

In 1861, having been elected a member of the Phi Beta Kappa of 
Cambridge, he delivered the Commencement oration. With obvious 
propriety, political subjects arc usually avoided on such occasions : bul 
such was the absorbing interest in national affairs, that the officers of 
the college and of the society requested him to discuss freely the 
state of the country. In the oration which followed, he sb i w i 
Slavery was the cause of the war, and demonstrated the justid 
necessity of emancipation. It was so far in advance of the times as 
to receive severe censure, not only from Democrats, but from many 
Republicans. Published entire in many journals, and circulated 
throughout the country, it did much to hasten the great revolution in 
public sentiment which was essential to the suppression of the Rebel- 
lion. 

The first time that Mr. Boutwell appeared in a public capa 
outside of Massachsetts, was as a member of the celebrated Peace 
Congress, held in 1861, which failed to arrest the rebellion of the 
South. He was first Commissioner of Internal Revenue, from July, 
1862 to March, 1863. During his incumbency of this office he or- 
ganized the vast Revenue System of the United States. 

Having been elected a Representative in Congress, he took his 
Beat as a member of the House in March, 1863. He was appointed 
a member of the Judiciary Committee — an evidence of the high 
estimate in which his legal talent and attainment- were held. 

In the Thirty-ninth and Fortieth Congresses he was continued on 
this committee, and was a member of the Joint Committee on Re- 
construction. 

Making his first appearance in the national councils when the 
country was in the midst of a war of unexampled magnitude, hi 
a wide field opened before him for the exercise of his abilities. The 
Emancipation Proclamation of Mr. Lincoln, and all the war n 
ures of the Administration, received hi* hearty support. When the 
enlistment of negroes was first resolved upon, he -' the 

foremost to encourage the policy, making several speech 
315 



i GEORGE S. BOUTWELL. 

of what he regarded as a movement essential to a suceessful prose- 
cution of the war. After the Rebellion had been suppressed, he 
was one of the earliest advocates of negro suffrage. 

No one was more impatient with President Johnson's defection 
from the principles of the party by whom he had been elected ; no 
one was more firmly convinced that he was guilty of crimes and 
misdemeanors deserving impeachment. As a Manager of the Im- 
peachment Trial before the Senate, his sincerity, honesty, eloquence 
and erudition attracted the attention of the entire country. 

Elected for the fourth time as a Representative from Massachu- 
setts, Mr. Boutwell had just taken his seat in the Forty-first Con- 
gress when he was called by President Grant to a seat in the 
Cabinet, as Secretary of the Treasury. This appointment was 
recognized by the country as eminently wise and proper. 

The new Secretary at once addressed himself to the work of regu- 
lating the complex and much disordered machinery of his depart- 
ment, lie began at the very opening of his administration of the 
Treasury to diminish the public debt. Notwithstanding the diffi- 
culties incident to entering upon a new financial policy, during his 
first three months in office he reduced the national indebtedness 
more than twenty millions of dollars. In four years he succeeded 
in reducing the debt more than three hundred millions of dollars. 

At the beginning of President Grant's second term Mr. Bout- 
well indicated a desire to retire from the cares and responsibilities 
of the Treasury. He was elected a Senator from Massachusetts, to 
:d Vice-President Wilson, and took his seat in March, 1873. 

Mr. Boutwell is a man of great force of character, power of mind, 
and strength of will. With indomitable perseverance and rare 
sagacity, he has risen to a position of commanding influence. He is 
an impressive speaker, with distinct articulation and earnest manner. 
He is a vigorous thinker, convincing by the force of logic rather 
than captivating with the charms of rhetoric. Whether as State 
executive, national legislator, or cabinet officer, lie is the same 
honest, popular, and efficient statesman. 
316 



SIMOS" B. C0N07EE. 



% Q IMON B. CONOYER was born in Middlesex County, New 
Jg?£) Jersey, September 23, 1840. He received a liberal edu- 
>!S^ cation, and at the age of nineteen commenced the study 
of medicine, entering the University of Pennsylvania in 
1860. A few months after graduating, in 1863, he received an 
appointment as assistant surgeon in the Army of the Cumberland, 
and was stationed at Nashville, Tennessee. In lSCi he was trans- 
ferred to the Haddington Hospital, Philadelphia, and from there to 
Cincinnati, where he was placed in charge of the Post Hospital. 
In 1806 he went to Florida as surgeon in the United States army, 
and was stationed in Lake City. Here he speedily won public 
confidence and esteem. He distinguished himself by his unweary- 
ing services to the colored people, riding night and day to benefit 
them. 

Politically he has always been a consistent, fearless, and inde- 
pendent Republican. He has labored faithfully and earnestly for 
the Republican party from its organization in 1S56, casting his first 
vote for Abraham Lincoln. On settling in Florida he at once 
identified himself with the true interests of the State and of the 
Republican party. He was elected a member of the Constitutional 
Convention from the counties of Baker and Columbia by a large 
majority. On the election of Governor Reed in 1868, Dr. Conover 
was rewarded for his valuable services in the campaign, and during 
the reconstruction period, with the appointment of State Treasurer. 
This position lie filled with credit to himself and advantage to tin- 
State. It is an evidence of public confidence in his integrity that 
all efforts to remove him from his position by those who could nor, 
use him to further their own ends uniformly failed. In 1808 he 
was a delegate to the Chicago Convention, and was made a member 
317 



2 SIMON B. CONOVER. 

of the National Republican Committee. At the last State Conven- 
tion he was appointed on the State Executive Committee. 

At the expiration of his term of service as State Treasurer lie 
was elected to the Florida Legislature as a Representative from the 
county of Leon, and was chosen Speaker of the House. In Janu- 
ary, 1873, he was elected a United States Senator to succeed Hon. 
T. W. Osborn, "after a struggle," said the Tallahassee Sentinel, 
" protracted through many days, and which, for intensity of party 
action, is without a parallel in the political history of the Stair." 
The successful candidate received forty-three of the seventy -three 
votes cast. "Let the vote be examined that elected him," said the 
Tallahassee Floridian, "and it will be found to stand composed of 
twenty-two anti-Ring Republicans, and twenty-one young pro- 
gressive Democrats, which swept down on the other side a junction 
between the forces of the Ring and the unprogressive Bourbons 
among the Conservatives." 

In a speech in response to a serenade by the citizens of Talla- 
hassee soon after the election Mr. Conover said : 

'•As I understand, all that supported me have done so knowing 
my political predilections. I was a delegate to the Chicago Con- 
vention, which first nominated General Grant, sent there by the 
first Republican organization that ever existed in the State, and 
have always been an unwavering supporter of his administration in 
all matters which I believed for the best interests of the country, 
and I shall continue in that course. It shall he my endeavor to do 
all things in my power that may conduce to the welfare of the 
State anil to secure harmony among all classes of our people." 

One of the leading journals of Florida gives the following edi- 
torial estimate of his character: 

"His energy and ability, together with his strict integrity and 
honesty of purpose, have commanded the respect even of his polit- 
ical opponents. Firm and unwavering in his political convictions, 
yet never intrusive, his gentlemanly discretion has obtained for 
him the confidence and respect of all the people, and won him a 
reputation of which he may well be proud." 
318 







^ r 






GEOEGE E. DENNIS. 



gEOEGE R DENNIS was born in White Haven, Somerset 
Comity, Maryland, April 8, 1822. Tie is of one of the 
oldest families in the State, members of which were 
prominent in polities at an early period in the history 
of the country, and all of whom have resided upon the Eastern 
Shore of Maryland. John Dennis was a member of Congress in 
1797, dying during his term of service; Littleton P. Dennis also 
died while serving in Congress in 1S33 ; John Dennis was in Con- 
gress from 1839 to 1S43. Littleton Dennis, the grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch, was a Whin- elector for five Presidential 
elections, first serving in 1801; he was an eminent lawyer, and was 
appointed one of the Judges of the General Court, at that time the 
Supreme Court of the State. The present Senator received his 
early education from a private tutor, Michael Tuomey, (afterward 
State Geologist of Alabama,) and at Washington Academy, Mary- 
land. He then entered the Van Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 
of Troy, New York, where he graduated in 1S10. A fter completing 
the course of the Polytechnic Institute, Mr. Dennis entered the 
University of Virginia, and. subsequently studied medicine at the 
University of Pennsylvania. Receiving his degree as a doctor of 
medicine from that institution in 1843, lie entered upon the prac- 
tice of his profession in his native county. He practiced with 
eminent success for many' years, but about fifteen years ago retired 
from active professional work, and has since devoted himself to the 
management of a large plantation. 

He took an active interest in the great works of internal im- 
provement which have been of such service in developing the 
resources of the State and nation. He is President of the Eastern 
Shore Railroad, of which he was a director from its first organiza- 
319 



2 GEORGE R. DENNIS. 

tion. He was a State Director in the Baltimore and Ohio Rail- 
road, resigning that position at the time of his election to the 
United States Senate. 

In politics Mr. Dennis was at first a "Whig, but since 1860 has 
acted with the Democratic party. He was a delegate from the 
State at large to the Whig National Convention which nominated 
Fillmore in 1850, and also to the Democratic National Convention 
which met in New York in 18C8, serving as one of the Vice-Presi- 
dents of that body. He was elected to the State Senate in 1S54. 
to the House of Delegates in 1867, and again to the State Senate 
in 1871. While holding this position he was elected to the United 
States Senate, receiving fifty-eight ont of sixty-eight votes in caucus, 
and took his seat in that body March 4, 1S73. He was appointed 
on the Committees on Agriculture and Commerce. In the State 
Legislature he devoted himself witli zeal to the promotion of edu- 
cation and the development of the resources of the State, and has 
lived to see his Commonwealth enjoying a high degree of prosperity 
under the liberal policy he advocated. 

Mr. Dennis has been twice married. His first wife was a 
daughter of Thomas R. Joynes, Esq., of Accomae County, Vir- 
ginia. He contracted a second marriage with a daughter of Will- 
iam W. Johnston, Esq., of Somerset County, Maryland. His eldest 
son, J. Upshur Dennis Esq., is a successful lawyer in Baltimore. 

Prepossessing in appearance and agreeable in his manners, he is 
very popular; and with active and industrious habits and a sound 
judgment he combines the elements of an able Senator and a safe 
legislator. 

320 




cSV/C^ax^, 



STEPHEN W. DOESEY. 



> 



^TEPHEN W. DORSET was l. ( ,rn in Benson, Rutland 
^ County, Vermont, February 28, 1^4l'. He received an 
academic education, ami left his native State at an early 
age. locating in Oberlin, Ohio. At the breaking out of 
the late civil war he enlisted as a private in a battery of light 
artillery. He fought his first battle at Shiloh, under General 
Grant, where, as first lieutenant, he commanded two pieces of 
artillery. He was at Perryville under General Buell, ami at 
Stone River and Chickamauga under General Roseerans. He was 
subsequently inspector of artillery on the staff of General Thomas. 
He commanded a battery at the battle of Mission Ridge, after 
which he was promoted to a captaincy. 

In ISO-i he was transferred t<> the Army of the Potomac, and 
assigned to the command of the First Ohio Battery. In the mem- 
orable campaign under General Grant he was engaged in the battles 
of the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg. 
He was in command of the historic " Fort Hell," in front of Peters- 
burg, during the siege. He participated actively in nearly all the 
engagements which closed the terrible drama, and which compelled 
the surrender at Appomattox. 

The war over, he resigned this commission, and returning to 
Ohio, organized the now well-known "Sandusky Tool Company," 
of which he was elected Manager. This company, tinder his effi- 
cient management, became one of the largest and most successful 
of its kind in the country. Mr. Horsey took a prominent part in 
the politics of Ohio, identifying himself with the Republicans, by 
whom he was frequently tendered positions of honor and profit, 
which he invariably declined. He was Chairman of the Congres- 
321 



2 STEPHEN "W. DORSEY. 

sional and County Central Committees for several years, and in 
those positions rendered valuable service. 

Early in January, 1870, he was elected President of the " Ar- 
kansas Central Railway Company." He accepted the position, 
and at once left for his new field of labor and responsibility. At 
that time not one hundred miles of railroad had been completed 
within the limits of the State. The " Arkansas Central Railway 
Company" had a charter to build, equip, and operate a road from 
Helena on the Mississippi River to Little Rock, with a branch to 
Pine Bluff, a distance of one hundred and fifty miles, but no money 
or any thing else available to build, equip, or operate it with. 
Nothing whatever of a practical nature had been done save a partial 
preliminary survey. The State Board of Railroad Commissioners 
had awarded fifteen thousand dollars per mile in bonds of the State, 
for the entire line of the "Central," but as the company had to 
make provision for the interest if it accepted and negotiated them, 
this award at that time, as a matter of fact, amounted to nothing. 

It was with these surroundings that Mr. Dorsey took hold to 
bring "order out of chaos," and achieve a success where disaster 
seemed almost certain. His own resources were promptly brought 
into action. He contributed largely of his private means, and in- 
duced a number of his financial friends to follow his example. lie 
visited the moneyed centers of this country and Europe, and as a 
result of his persevering energy the bonds of Arkansas have now a 
very positive value. That his management of the Central has 
proven a complete success, the sixty miles already completed, fully 
equipped, and doing a profitable business, amply attest. 

In the politics of Arkansas Mr. Dorsey has always taken an active 
and prominent part. In the Republican State Convention of 1872 
and as a member of the "State Central Committee," he added 
materially to the success of the party. He subsequently declined 
a nomination for Representative in Congress, but was soon after 
elected to the Senate, receiving the votes of every Republican and 
two thirds of the Democrats in the Legislature. He took his seat 
March 1, 1873, for the term which will expire in 1879. 
822 









■4 



JOHN B. GORDON". 




, |p >OHN B. GORDON was born in Upson County, Ga., 
February 6, 1832, and was educated at the University of 
Georgia. At the outbreak of the late civil war he was en- 
gaged in mining eoal in Dade County, Georgia, and in Jackson 
County, Alabama. In April, 1861, he raised a company of in- 
fantry, which was accepted as a part of the Sixth Alabama Regi- 
ment, of which he was elected major. The regiment was sent to 
Manassas in May, and was attached to Ewell's brigade. Gordon 
was soon after commissioned lieutenant-colonel, and when the regi- 
ment was reorganized in April, 1S62, he was, by unanimous vote, 
elected colonel. 

Seven Pines was the first important battle in which the Sixth 
Alabama was engaged. More than two thirds of Gordon's com- 
mand were killed or wounded ; the lieutenant-colonel, the major, 
and the adjutant were all killed. Every horse ridden into the tight 
was killed, the one on which Gordon was mounted being the last 
to fall under bis rider. He participated in the Seven Days' battles 
around Richmond. At Malvern Hill he was in command of 
Rodes' brigade, and led the desperate charge upon the Federal 
liatteries for half a mile through an open field. His brigade was 
first in the charge, and left its dead nearer the enemy's guns than 
any other of the Confederate troops. Nearly one half of the entire 
command were either killed or wounded in the terrible onset. The 
colonel had the butt of his pistol carried away by a ball, the breast 
of his coat torn open by another, and the canteen at his side shot 
through by a third. 

On Lee's march into Maryland Gordon commanded the first 
Confederate infantry that crossed the Potomac. In the battle of 
323 



2 JOHN B. GORDON. 

South Mountain he distinguished himself. Of his conduct in this 
fight General D. H. Hill reported that "Colonel Gordon, the 
Christian hero, excelled his former deeds at Seven Pines and in the 
battles around Eichmond. Our language is not capable of ex- 
pressing a higher compliment." 

He evinced remarkable gallantry in the subsequent field of 
Sharpsburgh. He was wounded twice ear.y in the fight, two balls 
passing through his right leg, but he refused to leave the field. An 
hour later he was shut again, a ball passing through bis left arm, 
mangling the tendons and muscles, and severing a small artery. 
He bled rapidly, his arm was completely disabled, and his whole 
system greatly shocked. A little while and another ball pene- 
trated his shoulder, producing a terrible shock upon bis already 
weakened powers, but he yet persisted in remaining on the field, 
and, haggard and bloody, continued to cheer his men and to wave 
them on to the fight. At last the fifth ball, passing entirely through 
the left cheek, brought him senseless to the ground, and he Mas 
carried to the rear by some of his men. For several months his 
life hung by a thread, but at length, through his unfailing spirits, 
and the assiduous nursing of a devoted wife, his recovery was 
effected. Colonel Gordon's gallantry al the battle of Sharpsburgh 
did not escape the notice of his superiors. He was made a brigadier 
general after bis recovery, in April, 1863, and placed in command 
of the Georgia brigade, formerly commanded by General A. R. 
Lawton. In a little more than a month after he took command he 
fought at Marye's Hill, in front of Fredericksburgh, and retook the 
heights by a brilliant charge. 

In the outset of the Pennsylvania campaign General Gordon was 
with Ewell at the capture of Milroy's forces in Winchester. He 
crossed into Maryland, and moved in front of the Confederate army 
on the Gettysburg, Yorkville, and Wrightsville pike. He moved 
on to Wrightsville, on the Susquehanna River, and, by a flank 
movement on the enemy's intrenched position, caused its evacua- 
tion. In their retreat they fired the bridge after crossing the river. 
The flames were communicated to adjoining buildings, and the 
324 



JOHN B. GORDON. 



whole town would have been reduced to ashes bat for the gem 
efforts of Gordon's troops to subdue the conflagration. He formed 
them in lines around the burning houses, and it was by their per- 
severing work, continued far into the night, that the flames were 
finally extinguished. 

Next day General Gordon marched to Gettysburg to participate 
in the great battles fought there. On the arrival of Early's division 
Gordon was sent in to support Rodes, whose left was being turned. 
He saw his opportunity, and by a bold and rapid charge broke the 
line guarding the right flank of the Federal army, after an almost 
hand-to-hand conflict, and then struck the flank, pressed heavily 
forward, broke every thing in his front, and turned the tide of 
battle. u It was a most brilliant charge," as officially reported. 
Pollard, in his "Lee and his Lieutenants," says of this charge: 
"The results showed an amount of execution greater, perhaps, than 
was ever accomplished in similar circumstances of the war by the 
same number of men. So great was the success that the whole 
Federal line had retreated, and Gordon was anxious to continue the 
pursuit and seize the heights which the enemy afterward so stronglv 
fortified. But he was halted by his superior officers. In consulta- 
tion with senior officers at the close of the day he advised an ad- 
vance at once, and expressed an opinion that the heights could be 
taken even at that time. So strongly was he impressed with this 
conviction, that at night he saw his superiors again and urged the 
movement. But other counsels prevailed, and the Confederates 
lost the opportunity of winning what might have been the decisive 
victory of the war." 

It was on the stormy lines of the Rapidan that General Gordon 
performed his chief part in the history of the late civil war. < >n 
the fifth of May his command was on the pike leading from < >ra 
Court-House to Fredericksburgh. The Confederate troops in Ids 
front had been engaged some time when they were overpowered 
aud forced to retreat rapidly. General Gordon ordered his men 
forward to a charge, riding in their front, He broke the Federal 
line, and then, designating certain troops to guard the front, 
325 



4 JOHNB. GORDON. 

wheeled his right and lei't, and swept down upon the enemy's 
flanks in both directions, capturing many prisoners and one regi- 
ment entire. 

During the night of the fifth of May Gordon was transferred to 
the extreme left of the Confederate army. Early on the following 
morning lie urged an attack upon the enemy's right flank, but his 
suggestions were not adopted until very late in the afternoon. 
"The probable effect of the movement," says Pollard, " if made 
early in the morning, when General Gordon first suggested it, may 
be judged from the success which attended it at dark. He struck 
the enemy fairly and squarely. The surprise was complete and 
the panic very great. The Federal officers endeavored to draw 
out brigade after brigade, division after division, and form at right 
angles to the breastworks, so as to check the impetuous attack. 
But Gordon's men were upon them before they could be properly 
placed in the new position. He met with no check until sometime 
after dark, when, in the confusion attending all night attacks, one 
or two of his regiments on the right were tired into by other Con- 
federate troops, and gave way. But the other troops pressed on 
until theenemy's lines had been captured by Gordon's own brigade, 
for more than a mile, nearly one thousand prisoners taken, includ- 
ing Generals Seymour and Shaler, and a complete disorganization 
effected in a large portion of the Sixth Corps of Grant's army. 

"At Spottsylvania Conrt-House Gordon was a conspicuous actor 
in one of the most memorable and dramatic passages of the war. 
It was here that, put in command of Early's division, he gave the 
first check to the enemy advancing after taking the salient held 
by General Johnston ; and it was here occurred the affecting and 
noble scene, when he seized the In-idle of General Lee's horse, and 
refused to let bim lead the Georgians and Virginians placed in line 
for a desperate counter-charge upon the enemy." This fight made 
him a major-general. 

After this battle Gordon took part in the various engagements 
of the two armies until the 13th of June, when he was sent with 
Early to Lynchburgh to meet Hunter, and afterward to the Valley 
326 



JOHN B. GORDON. 5 

of Virginia and into Maryland. It was his division that won the 
victory at Monocacy. " It was his command." says Pollard, " that 
struck the enemy that almost mortal Wow al Cedar Creek and 
then, palsied by the command of superiors, had the mortification 
of seeing a brilliant victory changed to an irretrievable defeat. It 
was Gordon's command chiefly engaged in the battle of Hare's Hill, 
where the troops fought with a vigor and brilliancy that reminded 
one of Lee's old campaigns; it was Gordon'- command that held 
the last lines in front of Petersbnrgh ; and it was Gordon's com- 
mand that, in Lee's final and fatal retreat, was at t'lie front, and 
gilded the last scene of surrender with the spectacle of three 
thousand men attempting to cut their way through Sheridan's 
lines, ami signalizing the close of the war by the capture of 
his artillery." 

In closiug his sketch of General Gordon Mr. Pollard says : 
'■His military services constitute for him one of the first reputa- 
tions in the war. But he appears, even beyond this object of am- 
bition, to have wou a peculiar regard from his countrymen : he has 
been accepted since the war, in some manner, as tin- representative 
of the young South. He is one of those who have clearly not ter- 
minated their career, and is certain to appear again in history. 
His fiery courage, his ardent sentiments, tempered by the highest 
tone of honor, and regulated by a strong and practical intellect, 
complete a character to be admired and trusted beyond that of 
most men." 

In the year following the war General Gordon was strongly 
urged by his friends to become a candidate for Governor of Geor- 
gia. He declined the honor, and took occasion to address to his 
fellow-citizens the most judicious advice as to the political attitude 
and action of the South. "Let us demonstrate,"' said he, '-that 
the men of the South are most reliable in their observances of 
plighted faith, and true to the principles of the Constitution. Dif- 
ficulties of the greatest magnitude oppose our political and mate- 
rial advancement ; but let us give ourselves to the task of 
overcoming them with brave hearts, and wise, unremitting toil." 
Z27 



G JOHN B. GORDON. 

In 1SG7 he was nominated as the Democratic candidate for 
Governor of Georgia, against Bufus B. Bullock, and the Demo- 
crats claim that he was elected by a large majority. He was 
Chairman of the Georgia Delegation in the Democratic National 
Convention of 1868, and in the ensuing canvass was Elector for 
the State at large. He was a Delegate to the National Conven 
tion which assembled at Baltimore July 9, 1S73. 

In January, 1873, General Gordon was elected by the Legis- 
lature of Georgia United States Senator, to serve for six years from 
March 4, 1S73. In this contest his competitors were Hon. Alex- 
ander II. Stephens, late Vice-President of the Confederate States, 
Hon. B. II. Hill, late ex-Confederate State Senator, and Hon. 
Amos T. Ackerman, ex-Attorney-General of the United States. 
General Gordon was elected on the fifth ballot, the vote being 
Gordon 112, Stephens 80, Ackerman 7. At the called session of 
the Senate, beginning March 4, 1873, he entered upon the dis- 
charge of the duties of his position with characteristic faithfulness 
and energy. 

328 





u 



n^j c 




n /Cj 



JOHN J. IIGALLS. 




''OTIN J. INGALLS was born of Puritan ancestry in Mid- 
dleton, Essex County, Massachusetts, December 2ft, is::::. 
He received the rudiments of education in the common 
schools of his native county, and prepared for college in the Hav- 
erhill High School, to which town his parents removed in 1841. 
lie graduated at Williams College, Massachusetts, in the class of 
1S55. He read law in Haverhill, and in 1857 was admitted to the 
Essex County bar. • 

He removed to Kansas in 1858, settling at Sumner, named after 
Senator Sumner, and at that time the only distinctively " 
State," or antislavery, town on the Missouri River. There he re- 
mained until 1SC0, when he removed to Atchison, where he has 
since resided. During the Border conflicts he was well known as 
an earnest Free-soiler, and made himself prominent by the vehe- 
mence with which lie denounced the supporters of slavery. In 
1859 he was elected a member of the Wyandotte Convention which 
formed the present Constitution of the State of Kansas. It is 
told of him, that soon after his election he was taunted by David 
R. Atchison, a proslavery champion, about his youth andobscui 
Ingalls, not disconcerted, briefly replied that his youth and obscu- 
rity were preferable to age which was accompanied by infamy. 
This reply secured him the prominence which his ability and 
energy fully deserved. 

In 1S60 he was Secretary of the Territorial Council, and in 1861, 
after the admission of the State, he was Secretary of the 
Senate. In 1862 he was elected State Senator from Atchison 
.County. In the same year he was a candidate for Lieutenant- 
Governor, upon what was known as the " Anti" ticket, and a 
329 



2 JOHN J. INGALLS. 

in 1864, but was defeated on both occasions, although he carried 
his own county in each instance by immense majorities for the 
whole ticket. 

Mr. Ingalls was editor of the Atchison Champion from 1863 to 
1865, and since that time he has been engaged in the practice of 
law in different courts of the State. He was married in 1865. He 
was one of the founders of the Kansas Magazine, to which he has 
been one of the principal contributors, writing chiefly on Western 
life. In his writings he has displayed a varied knowledge of the 
history of the Western country in its transition from barbarism to 
civilization. His papers have attracted much attention, having 
been reprinted largely both in this country and in Europe. He 
has always been a Republican, and has been prominent both with 
his pen and on the stump in the advocacy of the principles of 
his party. 

The recent election of United States Senator in Kansas was one 
of the most remarkable scenes in the history of American politics. 
Mr. Pomeroy and his friends were confident of his re-election. The 
joint Convention had met. and was proceeding to vote, when sud- 
denly a State Senator arose and sent to the clerk's desk a roll of 
money, amounting to seven thousand dollars, which he asserted that 
he had received from Mr. Pomeroy as a bribe for his vote. The 
effect was electric. Mr. Pomeroy was abandoned by his friends, 
and Mr. Ingalls was elected by a vote almost unanimous. He took 
his seat in the Senate March 4, 1873, and was appointed on the 
Committees on Pensions and Education and Labor. 
330 




'■■'■■ ' 




7frr^' 




-iu~esf 



JOHN P. JONES. 



^TOHN P. JONES was born in Hay, Brecknockshire, 
Wales, in 1828. His father, a man of considerable force 




and originality of thought, emigrated to this country aboul 
forty years ago. He settled with his family near Cleve- 
land, Ohio, and carried on the marble business there until hisdeath. 
John P. Jones received the ordinary education of an American boy 
in the public schools of that city. 

In company with his brother, Henry, he sailed for California in 
September, 1849, and landed there early in 1850. His first expe- 
rience in mining was at the North Fork of the Feather River. 
Thence he went to Marysville; and thence to Poor Man's Creek, 
where he remained a few days, and then set out for new scenes. The 
autumn found him in Tuolumne. After mining there and in Cala- 
veras for nearly two years, with varied success, he went to Trinity 
County. In 1853 he went back to Tuolumne, and entered into 
some large mining enterprises, which for a time were very profitable. 
Fortune, however, deserted him; lie lost all, and became involved in 
debt. In 1855 ho returned to Trinity, and out of his first earnings 
paid off his Tuolumne creditors. 

Soon after his return to Trinity, Jones was elected a Justice of the 
Peace. While he based his decisions generally on the equities of the 
cases tried before him, lie studied enough law to clothe them in such 
legal forms that dissatisfied lawyers could not upset them. A year 
later he was sheriff of the county. An Indian war broke out, and 
Jones, as a volunteer, did good service. On one occasion, he and 
fifteen other volunteers were surrounded by a large force of Indians, 
where they were cut off from water for sixteen hours. Several were 
killed and wounded, and all would have perished had they not 
received assistance from the main body. 
331 



2 JOHN P. JONES. 

A little later Jones went back to mining, and, like most of his 
class, lived for years in a snug log cabin on a steep mountain-side. 
By day, with the hammer, drill, and pick, in shaft and tunnel, with 
unfaltering hope and cheerful toil he wrought for gold. At night, by 
poring over such books as in tin ho days found their way into the 
almo.-t inaccessible mountains of Trinity, he added to his stores of 
knowledge, more precious than gold. Of course, when miners and 
others met in consultation or debate, Jones, being the fullest man, 
generally had something good to say, and was always called for. 
Hence he became a ready man, and having to deal with audiences 
that were too honest and outspoken to bear boring, he learned to use 
few words and make his discourse epigrammatic and entertaining. 
Wherever he might be, he was a great book-buyer, often spending 
his week's earnings to gratify his taste for reading. 

When, in 1861, Trinity miners wanted to send a Senator to Sacra- 
mento, they thought of Jones. In the Legislature for four years he 
did his work quietly, honestly, and without fear or favor. When 
Gorham was nominated for Governor, Jones was selected for the 
second place on the Republican ticket, — the Lieutenant-Governor- 
ship. He was popular from on,' end of the mother lode of Cali- 
fornia quartz to the other, and was known by name to every Repub- 
lican from the seashore to the ridge of the Sierras. The Democrats, 
however, carried all before them, and the defeat of the Republican 
party was complete. Jones found himself the day after the election 
with a little mining property in Trinity, a loving wife, some house- 
hold furniture, and a heavy load of debt incurred in that hottest 
of all California's political campaigns. 

Alvinza Hayward had discovered in Jones the kind of man he 
wanted to superintend the Crown Point and Kentuck mines, which 
were hardly holding their own on the Comstock, though they had 
in previous years paid excellent dividends. Jones accepted the po- 
sition, with its handsome salary and other advantages, and went to 
Gold Hill, Nevada. Old mining superintendents, mill-owners, and 
even underground men looked rather coldly on the " politician from 
Trinity." Gradually his fellow-superintendents found that Jones 
was a gentleman, and that he knew how to mine. By and by his 
men came to know him better; they liked his straightforwardness, 
his few words, his strong will, and pleasant ways. He seemed to 
3:J2 



JOHN P. JONES. g 

them more like one of themselves than the dashing, finely-d 

and bejewelled superintendents who were not unknown to the lode. 

These men afterwards learned to love him, for lie and thej 
through the valley of the shadow of death, and struggled for life 
with destructive flames and poisonous gases side by side, at the time 
of the fire in Crown Point, Yellow Jacket, and Kentuck mines. 

After the worst effects of the fire were removed, it was found that 
there weresome of the middle levels that could not be safely i 
and the lowest were yet undeveloped. Assessments were made, first 
to meet the extraordinary expenses of the fire, and then to prospect 
at greater depth. The stock fell from §80 to $2.50. Everything 
looked gloomy, and it was feared the stockholders would tire before 
the question was si lived whether there was paying ore at 1100 feet, or 
the ground was worked out. Jones sought every way to hasten the 
solution of the problem. He did solve it six months before the 
answer was expected, and he found lie had under his charge the 
richest mine then known in the world. He and his friend- I 
stock every day, everywhere, and at any price. Jones soon found 
himself with an income of over 81,000,000 a year. The Crown 
Point was the foundation of his fortune; but other fortunate and 
judicious investments have since made that but one of several 
sources of revenue. 

In 1870 Mr. Jones with great liberality and party zeal proposed 
to bear all the legitimate election expenses of the Republican party 
of Nevada in the pending election. The result was a Republican 
triumph, the party being largely predominant in the Legislature. 
Upon its meeting a Republican caucus was held, and Mr. Jones 
was unanimously nominated for United States Senator. The fact 
that he had used money during the campaign was never denied, but 
no one ever insinuated that he had undertaken to approach any 
member of the Legislature with bribes. After Mr. Jones had been 
elected Senator he was invited to address both Houses of the Legis- 
lature in joint convention, and did so. In his address he alluded 
to the charge that he had spent money during the campai 
admitted it, and added that millions of money might be spent in 
political campaigns in the way he had used it without corrupting 
anybody. 

Mr. Jones took his seat in the Senate on the 4th of March, L873, 
333 



4 JOHN P. JONES. 

and at once devoted himself with energy to his official duties. He 
immediately took a deep interest in financial questions which came 
before the Senate, and in all subjects of legislation bearing upon the 
commercial and business prosperity of the country. Considerable 
time elapsed before he gave utterance to his views, but when he did 
speak it was in such a way as to attract the attention of the entire 
country. In his speeches before the Senate he took strong ground 
in favor of gold as the only real money, supporting his position by 
masterly arguments. His speeches seemed to be delivered without 
special preparation for the immediate occasion, but gave evidence of 
being the deliberate conclusions of an eminently practical mind, 
after long experience and profound reflection. The readiness of his 
reply to interrogatories, and the ability with which he answered ob- 
jections which came in as interruptions to his remarks, showed him to 
be a skilful and dangerous antagonist in the arena of debate. The 
President of the United States addressed a letter to Mr. Jones, in 
which he committed himself and the administration to a sound cur- 
rency, and an early resumption of specie payment. 

33 1 



THOMAS 0. M c OEEEET. 




jgHOMAS C. McCREERY is a native of Kentucky, and was 
born in 1817. He studied law, but instead of practising 
his profession, he turned his attention to the more p< aceful 
pursuits of agriculture. He was a presidential elector in 1S52, and in 
1858 was a member of the Board of Visitors to the military academy 
at West Point. On the resignation of James Guthrie, as Senator in 
Congress, from Kentucky in 1868, Mr. McCreery was elected as a 
Democrat for the unexpired term ending in 1871, and took his seat 
in the Senate, February 28, 1808. He was assigned to places on the 
Committee on Agriculture and the Committee on Territories. His 
first elaborate speech in the Senate was delivered May 28, 1 V| >, 
when he spoke at great length against the bill to admit Arkansas to 
representation in Congress. The style of the speech is illustrati 
the following passage: "The safeguards which were thrown around 
the rights of the citizen, as well as the land-marks which were 
erected to protect the different departments in the exercise of their 
delegated powers have been obliterated and destroyed ; and instead 
of the symmetry and simplicity of our old republican institutions 
the nation this day groans under the weight of a compound radical 
iniquity, which may be denominated a civil, circumspect, military, 
despotic, represented and unrepresented confederation of States, 
principalities and powers." He was the sole supporter of a resolution 
offered by his colleague, Mr. Davis, declaring that "a court of im- 
peachment cannot be legally formed, while Senators from certain 
States are excluded." December 17,1868, lie proposed an am 
ment to the Constitution intended to protect the rights of minori 
and provide against the contingency of bringing an election for 
President and Vice-President to tiie House of Representatives. 
335 



2 THOMAS C. Mo CR EERY. 

In the Forty-first Congress Mr. McCreery served on the Commit- 
tee on Pensions, in addition to those upon which he had previously 
been appointed. The most remarkable of the acts of Mr. McCreery 
in the Senate was his offer, December 13, 1S70, of a joint resolu- 
tion for the relief of Mrs. Robert E. Lee, looking to the restoration 
to her possession of the estate known as "Arlington," the burial- 
place of seventeen thousand soldiers who fell in the War of the 
Rebellion. On presenting the resolution Mr. McCreery eulogized 
General Lee as one who "enjoyed a singular exemption from the 
faults and follies of other men.'" Referring to Mrs. Lee, he said : 
"In her behalf I implore your justice. I do not ask for any thing 
else. She belongs to a race fond of bestowing charity, but poverty 
cannot force them to accept it. She owns, but does not occupy, 
the home of her fathers. Will you, Senators, remove the bar 
which excludes 1mm- from Arlington?" Mr. McCreery's efforts 
were unavailing; the Senate refused leave to introduce this resolu- 
tion by a vote of fifty-four to four. 

At the expiration of his term, March 4, 1871, Mr. McCreery was 
succeeded by lion. John W. Stevenson. After the death of Hon. 
Garrett Davis, the Democrats of the Kentucky Legislature, who 
admired the boldness of Mr. McCreery in proposing his Arlington 
resolution, elected him to (ill the vacancy, and he took bis 3eal in 
the Senate March 1. l v 7o. On the occasion of his election the St. 
Louis Democrat said of him: " McCreery is a jolly old soul, and 
:il;\ one of i he cleverest of men. You would take him, from 
his dress and appearance in the Senate, to be a well-to-do farmer, 
fresh from bis barn-yard, who had just dropped in to see with what 
iittle wisdom the world was governed." 
336 




AUGUSTUS S. MEEEIMOK 

^UGUSTUS S. MERRIMON was born September 15, 
1830, in the County of Buncombe, (now Transylvania,) 

North Carolina. But little is known of his ancestors, 
who, though respectable, did not belong to the ruling, aristocratic 
class. Augustus inherited neither wealth nor position, but entered 
life with a sound constitution, good powers of mind, and resolute will, 
which abundantly made up for the lack of moneyed capital. En- 
joying but limited means for schooling, he applied himself dili- 
gently to private study, in which he made good proficiency. He 
studied law, and was admitted to the supreme bar of North Carolina 
in 1852 at the age of twenty-two. He soon reached an honorable 
eminence in his profession. 

His first official position was that of County Attorney, in which 
capacity he served at various times in several counties. In 18C0 
he was nominated by the Union Whigs for the lower house of the 
State Legislature, and was elected by a majority of twenty-six 
votes. He took an active part with the Whigs in the Legislation 
of 1860— 'Gl, in opposition to secession. Their efforts were vain, 
and when outvoted, and the State undertook to secede, he went 
with his people, and did what he could to preserve*] aw ami order 
in the State. He was made State Solicitor of tin- Eighth Circuit 
by appointment of Judge French, and was afterward elected by 
the Legislature to the same office, which he held during the con- 
tinuance of the war. 

At the close of the war he became a Conservative candid 

the Constitutional Convention called under President John>.»n"s 

Reconstruction Proclamation, but was beaten by seventeen votes. 

In 1S6G the first Legislature organized in North Carolina after the 

'337 



2 AUGUSTUS S. MERRIMON. 

war elected him Judge of the Superior Court. He served in this 
capacity until 1S67, when he resigned, rather than execute, while 
sitting as a civil judge, the military orders of General Sickles regu- 
lating the proceedings of courts, believing that the execution of 
such orders would be a violation of the Constitution and of his 
official obligation. 

In 1868 he was nominated by the Conservatives for Governor 
under the Reconstruction Acts. He declined to run for that office, 
but accepted the nomination for Judge of the Supreme Court. In 
1871 he was one of the candidates in Wake County for the Consti- 
tutional Convention, but was defeated with the rest of the Conserv- 
ative ticket. On the 20th of May, 1872, he was nominated by the 
Conservative Convention at Greensboro' for Governor of North 
Carolina. As the election in that State was held early in the 
summer, it was considered very important as an indication of the 
probable issue of the great Presidential campaign then pending, 
and strenuous efforts were made by both parties to carry the State. 
Caldwell, the Republican candidate, was declared elected by nine- 
teen hundred majority, which Mr. Merrimon believes was obtained 
by " counting,'" and not by the actual vote. 

On the occasion of the election of a United States Senator to 
succeed Hon. John Pool, some twenty Democrats, who were un- 
willing to support Governor Vance, the regular Democratic can- 
didate, united with the Republicans and elected Mr. Merrimon, 
who received eighty-seven votes against seventy-two for Vance. 
Upon entering the Senate, March 4. 1873, he was appointed on the 
Committees on Post-Offices and Post-Roads, Claims, and the Re- 
vision of the Rules. Fie identified himself fully with the Demo- 
cratic minority in the Senate. 

His face wears an honest, thoughtful expression, more irradiated 
with the sober light of common sense than lit up with the glow of 
genius. He is prone to take practical views of things, and is not 
easily led away in pursuit of theories and speculations. 
338 



JOHN H. MITCHELL. 



r 



OHN H. MITCHELL was born in Washington County, 

(pjfy Pennsylvania, June 22d, 1835. After acquiring the rudi- 

^f meats of an English education at the public schools of his 

"^i native county, he attended for some time the Witherspoon 

Institute, and finished his scholastic course under a private instructor. 
He then entered the law office of Hon. Samuel A. Purviance (of the 
firm of Purviance & Thompson), in Butler, Pennsylvania, under 
whose instructions lie remained for two years. After passing a sat- 
isfactory examination he was in 1-858 admitted to the bar of Butler 
County. Here he immediately commenced the practice of his pro- 
fession, where ha remained two years law partner with Hon. John 
M. Thompson, late member of Congress from that district. 

The love of adventure, ami the inducements which California 
seemed to offer to young and energetic men decided him upon ven- 
turing into that inviting field. He went to San Francisco, and 
thence to San Louis Obispo, California. Soon, however, he returned 
to San Francisco, and, in July, 1860, went to Portland, Oregon, 
which he made his permanent residence. 

He at once gave his attention to building up a legal practice, in 
■which he was highly successful. He attained a large business, and 
his professional ability was recognized by his election, in 1861, to 
the office of Corporation Attorney of Portland. 

He was a Republican, and soon became influential in local poli- 
tics. In 1862 he was nominated and elected to the Oregon State 
Senate, in which body he served efficiently four years. During the 
first two years of his term he was Chairman of the Judiciary ( !om- 
mittee, and the last two years he held the position of President of 
the Senate. 

During his service in the Senate his record was so satisfactory to 
339 



2 JOHN H. MITCHELL. 

his constituents, that they desired to further honor him with still 
higher proofs of their esteem and confidence. In 1866, strenuous 
efforts were made by his political friends to secure for him a seat in. 
the United States Senate, and they only failed of success through 
lack of one vote in the caucus. In 1872 lie obtained the prize, 
which, six years before, had so narrowly eluded his grasp, receiving 
on first ballot over three-fourths of all the votes in the Republican 
caucus. He was elected to the United States Senate September 28th, 
1872, and took his seat in that body March 4th, 1873. 

From 1867 until January, 1873, when he resigned all other en- 
gagements to enter upon his duties as United States Senator, he was 
constantly employed in non-political positions of usefulness and 
honor. For about four years he filled the Professorship of Medi- 
cal Jurisprudence in Willamette University, at Salem, Oregon. 
He was five years attorney for the "Oregon and California Rail- 
road Company," and the "North Pacific Steamship Transportation 
Company," at an annual salary of £10,000 in gold. 

In the Senate of the United States he immediately took an influ- 
ential position, serving efficiently on the important Committees on 
Privileges and Elections, ( Jlaims, and Railroads, and on the Special 
Committee on Transportation Routes to the Seaboard. 

340 



JOHN J. PATTERSON. 




r OHN J. PATTERSON was born in Juniata County, 
Pennsylvania, August 8, 1830. He was educated at Jeffer- 
son College, where he graduated in 1848. Subsequently 

for two years he remained in Juniata County, assisting his 
father in conducting a large tanning business. In 1852 lie became 
editor of the "Juniata Sentinel,' 1 and supported General Scott for 
the Presidency. In the same year he was a member of the Whig 
State Committee of Pennsylvania. He served upon nearly every 
succeeding "Whig and Republican Committee until he left the 
State. He was a member of the first National Republican Con- 
vention by which General Fremont was nominated, and of the 
Chicago Convention of 1860 that first nominated Mr. Lincoln. In 
1859 and 1SG1 he represented Juniata, Union, and Snyder Coun- 
ties in the Pennsylvania Legislature. 

When the war of the Rebellion broke out he was captain of a 
volunteer company of cavalry already organized, and on the day 
of the publication of President Lincoln's first call for seventy-five 
thousand volunteers he tendered the services of himself and com- 
pany. In the evening of the same day a dispatch from Washing- 
ton announced the acceptance of the offer. Captain Patterson at 
once appointed a rendezvous, and ordered his men to report imme- 
diately for duty; but on the following day a second dispatch 
announced the decision of the authorities not to accept the services 
of volunteer cavalry, and the orders were countermanded. Not to 
be swerved from his patriotic purpose, Mr. Patterson took a position 
on the staff of General Williams, with the rank of captain, in the 
three months' service. He was then appointed captain in the 
Fifteenth Infantry regular army, and served under General Ro 
341 



2 JOHN J. PATTERSON. 

crans in West Virginia. In 1862 lie went into the Paymaster's 
Department, and served under the same general. In the same 
year, returning home, he received the Republican nomination for 
Congress, but was defeated by General W. H. Miller. The Re- 
publicans of Juniata County renewed the nomination in 1864, 1866, 
and 1868, but in each instance it failed in the District Convention. 

From 1863 to 1SC9 he was engaged in the banking and other 
business in his native county, but in the latter year he went to 
South Carolina on account of his health. Possessed of ample 
pecuniary means, it was not long before he found opportunities for 
investments. He purchased large interests in the dilapidated rail- 
roads of the State, and at once engaged in the work of reconstruct- 
ing and bringing them up to the Northern standard. He was 
elected Vice-President of the Greenville and Columbia Company 
in 1870, and served in that capacity until the sale of the road to 
the South Carolina Company. In 1871 he was elected President 
of the Blue Ridge Railroad Company, which office he yet holds. 

In 1872 Mr. Patterson was a delegate to the Philadelphia Con- 
vention that renominated President Grant. In 1873 he was elect- 
ed United States Senator from South Carolina, to succeed Hon. F. 
A. Sawyer, receiving on the first ballot seventeen out of thirty- 
three votes in the Senate, and seventy-three of one hundred and 
twenty-four in the House, thus rendering a joint ballot unnecessary. 
He took his seat at the called session, March 4, 1873, and at once 
applied himself with industry to the duties of his position. 
342 




Oc. 6< ■ At >-a y< .^ . 









AARON A. SARGENT. 



§ARON AUGUSTUS SARGENT was born September 23, 
1827, iu Newburyport, Massachusetts. Wben a boy lie en- 
tered a printing office, and while acquiring a trade became 
proficient in elemeutary education. Having mastered "the art 
preservative," he went to Washington, D. C, where be was en- 
gaged from 1847 to 1849 as a reporter in Congress. In February, 
1849, he migrated to California, and, after a brief sojourn in San 
Francisco, made fhe city of Nevada his permanent residence. 
After mining, with more or less success, he started the Nevada 
Journal, which, under his editorial control, became noted for 
vigor, ability and fearlessness. In 1853, while thus engaged, he 
commenced the study of the law, came to the bar in 1854, and 
about the same time was elected District Attorney of Nevada 
county, a position which he held from 1855 to 1857, and rapidly 
became a leader of the Nevada bar, being singularly fortunate in 
his conduct of the many intricate and important causes confided 
to his care — a result perhaps attributable as much to his indefati- 
gable industry as to the high qualities of bis mind. In politics 
Mr. Sargent was a Whig until 1S5G, when he became a Republi- 
can and threw himself into the Fremont Presidential campaign 
with restless energy, at a time when in California it was danger- 
ous to be a Republican, and when denunciations of Democracy 
were greeted with jeers, rotten eggs and other missiles. He was 
afterwards nominated for Attorney General of California, but 
with the rest of the ticket was defeated. Subsequently, be was a 
delegate to and Vice President of the Chicago Convention which 
nominated Abraham Lincoln. 
Iu 18G1 he waa elected a Representative from California to the 
343 



2 AARON A. SARGENT. 

Thirty-Seventh Congress, during which he served as a member 
of the Select Committee on the Pacific Railroad, and from the 
fact that lie drew the first Pacific Railroad act passed by Congress, 
foughl it through the House against all opposition, and success- 
fully brought every honorable influence to bear upon its passage 
by the Senate, Mr. Sargent earned the gratitude of the people of 
the Pacific coast, and is justly considered "The Father of the 
Pacific Railroad." Among his speeches during this Congress, 
those of January 31 and April 9, 1802, proving the military 
ity for the Pacific Railroad; that of May 23, 1862, on the 
confiscation of rebel property ; and his tribute to the memory of 
his friend, the lamented Senator Edward D. Baker, who fell at 
Ball's Blurt' — attracted marked attention. 

The " New York Tribune," of June 23, 1869, contains a letter 
from Omaha, written by the late Albert D. Richardson, in which 
occurs a reminiscence that gives some idea of the amount of labor 
undergone by Mr. Sargent at this time. lie writes : 

" A. A. Sargent, the Representative from California, who, in 
1862. drafted the bill under which the Pacific railroad has been 
built, was also upon our train. * * * * It is difficult to 
imagine that a man still so young, that his face retains the fresh- 
i' boyhood, has seen the richest State in the Union grow up 
from nothing to the greatest material enterprise since the world 
was originated and created. Sargent, James II. Campbell, of 
Pennsylvania, and Schuyler Colfax, were the most efficient and 
judicious friends of the measure in the House, as were "Wilson, 
of Massachusetts, Morrill, of Maine, and McDougall, of Califor- 
nia, in the Senate. Day after day, for a month, in Committee of 
tin' Whole. Sargent and Campbell alternately answered objections 
to the bill in five-minute speeches, and night after night, with 
Theodore D. Judah, the engineer, supplying them with exact 
information, they 'sat up' with Eastern Senators and Represen- 
tatives. There was hostility to overcome, there was incredulity 
344 



AARON A. SAKiiENT, 8 

to satisfy. Iu the House one day Owen Lovejoy asked, with Lis 
peculiar satire of tone and shrug of the shoulders: 'Do I under- 
stand the gentleman from California to say that lie acntally 

expects this road to be built t 'The gentleman from 111"; 
replied Sargent promptly, ' may understand me to predict that 
if this bill is passed the road will be finished within ten years.' 
In his heart of hearts, though, Sargent feared that this was a wild 
prophecy. Only seven years have passed, three of them years of 
exhausting civil war, but over the prairie, over the desert, over 
the mountains to the waters of the Pacific, long trains are rolling 
daily." * * * * 

Having accomplished bis great Pacific Railroad task, Mr. Sar- 
gent resumed his lucrative practice of the law in Nevada city, 
and persistently declined re-nomination — his mining iuteree 
quiring bis presence at home. It was before this time that the 
Republican minority of the State Legislature gave him their vote 
for the United States Senate, although he was not then of Consti- 
tutional age to enter that body. In 18G2, iu the Republican 
majority caucus he lacked only three votes of being their el 
for United States Senator, to succeed the lamented Broderick. 
At a subsequent Senatorial election, he again received a large 
vote in Republican caucus, but a combination of other candidates 
defeated him. In 18G9 he yielded to the solicitations of frii 
and consented to run fur the Forty-First Congress, and was the 
only Republican Representative elected by California — bis mi 
ity being about equal to the combined majorities of the Demo- 
cratic delegation from that State. A less popular man would 
probably at that juncture have suffered defeat, and the State been 
irretrieveably lost to the Republican party. Duringthi 
he was a leading member of the Committee on Appropriati 
and the Committee on Mines and .Mining, distinguishing hii 
especially as the author of the new mining code under which min- 
eral lauds can bo held in fee simple; of various homestead and 
345 



4 AARON A. SARGENT. 

pre-emption measures; and, as the member Laving charge of the 
Indian appropriation lulls, for the spirited and determined man- 
ner in which, during several sessions, he fought for and finally 
secured the statutory relinquishment by the United States Senate 
of its long claimed and exercised right to make treaties with the 
Indian tribes. His comprehensive review of Congressional recon- 
struction as far as then accomplished, at the first session drew 
upon him the attention of the House and the country; and, dur- 
ing the second, his scathing exhibit of the " Record of the Dem- 
ocratic Party," delivered before the House, February 5, 1870, 
created a great sensation. His minor speeches, — on Tariff and 
Internal Revenue reduction, for Settlers' Rights, against Mining 
Tunnel Subsidies, and on the Goat Island bill and other subjects 
of legislation, — were numerous and able. Of his course during 
this period the "New York Tribune," of July 4th, 1870, justly 
said: "Aaron A. Sargent, of California, has, without question, 
been the most industrious man in Congress." 

Upon returning to his constituents, the University of California 
honored him with the degree of A. M., and his district re-elected 
him to the Forty-Second Congress by a large majority. Here he 
again signalized himself by the celerity with which he prepared, 
perfected, and pushed through the House appropriation bills in 
his charge ; by the fearless honesty and the ability with which he 
attacked the Indiana, Illinois and Ohio two per cent. bill. He 
was a leading member of the Committee to Investigate Charges 
against the Navy Department, appointed March 12, 1872, and 
drew the exhaustive report for the majority of the committee, 
which so fully exonerated the Navy Department from the charges 
preferred. Soon after his re-election to Forty-Second Congress, 
the Legislature of California elected him to the United States 
Senate — his vote in Republican caucus being 54 against 17 given 
for all other candidates — to take his seat March 4, 1873. 
346 




73u%i<L 



t \j 



BAIXBEIDGE WADLEIGH, 




AINBRIDGE WADLEIGH was burn in Bradford, New 
.■JPJ Hampshire, January i, 1831. At the age of fourteen 
' J^L - years lie was l"' ( 'l ,an ''' for college, mostly under private 
tuition, but his health, which had always been delicate, compelled 
him to give up his studies, and spend two years in out-door life. 
Ey the advice of physicians he gave up the idea of going through 
college, and in January, I ^47, commenced the study of law in the 
office of Hon. M. W. Tappan, of Bradford. There he spent throe 
years in careful training, both of mind and body. By mi 
the physical regimen to which he then subjected himself, he in a 
great measure overcame the natural delicacy of his constitution, 
and insured to himself a moderate degree of health. 

Early in 1850 lie was admitted to the bar upon examination, 
and commenced the practice of the law in Milford, New Hamp- 
shire, where he has since resided. In the practice of his profession 
he made the most careful preparation, and studied his cases with 
the utmost diligence. The work which this necessarily involved 
was not a task, but labor which he delighted in for its own sake. 
He had exalted notions of his profession, looking upon it nol as a 
mere means for the acquisition of wealth or office, but as a pursuit 
to excel in which is ample reward for the toil of a lifetime. His 
progress in his profession was rapid, and his success was well- 
earned. He acquired a very large practice in Hillsborough ( 'mniv. 
and is now one of the most successful lawyers in New Hampshire. 
His reputation as a jury lawyer is such that he is called upon to 
try cases, not only in New Hampshire, but often is engaged in 
cases of importance in neighboring States. His pride in his pro- 
fession impelled hiui to take great pains with his law library, and 
347 



o BAINBRIDGB WADLEIGH. 

he now lias one of the largest and choices! collections of law books 
in the Slate 

He was one of the early antislavery men, voting and acting 
with them when their cause appeared to be in a hopeless minority 
in New Eampshire and throughout the country. In 1855, when 
twenty-four years of age, he was elected to the State Legislature 
from his town, and served in that body acceptably to bis fellow- 
citizen- in that and the following year. Again in 1859, I860, 1S69, 
1870, L871, and 1872, he was a member of the House from Milford. 
Early in his legislative career he began tc give indications of that 
skill and power in debate for which he has since become so justly 
celebrated in New Hampshire. During his last four years in the 
State Legislature he was the acknowledged leader of the House, 
not only in debate, but in the influence which he exercised over 
his fellow-members. He served on important committees, and as 
Chairman of the Judiciary Committee. In 1871 he exhibited, in 
a me t unmistakable manner, his ability as a manager and tacti- 
cian in the Legislature. In that year the Democrats had a majority 
of one or two in the House ; and it was owing to the adroit man- 
agement of Mr. Wadleigh, more than to any other cause, that they 
did not succeed in driving from office every Republican incum- 
bent, and in so re-districting the State that in the future New 
Hampshire would have been hopelessly Democratic. 

In 1872 a United States Senator was to be chosen to succeed 
Hon. .1. W. Patterson. The contest for the place was a fierce one ; 
the candidates were numerous, and embraced many of the best and 
most influential men in the State, whose friends made great exer- 
tions in their behalf. As the Republicans bad a large majority in 
the Legislature, tin! result was virtually determined in the Repub- 
lican eaneiis. On the first ballot Mr. Wadleigh, who was not a 
candidate, and had not sought the office, received three votes, and 
on the fourth ballot he was nominated by a vote of one hundred 
and fifty-two out of two hundred and ten. He was elected on the 
L8th of June, 1ST-', and took his seat in the United States Senate 

March 1. L873. 

348 








2f2l 






JOIIX S. HA GEE. 



^4|j^ 0IIN S. HAGER was bom in German Valley, Morris 
,||| County, New Jersey, March 12,1818. His ancestors on 
l"\'l botu sides were German Protestants, who being driven 
from their homes by the fierce persecutions thai toot place 
during the religions wars that so long distracted their native land, 
first retreated to Holland, and afterward emigrated to America. 
They landed in Philadelphia in 1707, and with other German col- 
onists finally settled in an uninhabited portion of New Jersey, to 
which they gave the name of German Valley, where they pur- 
chased lands and engaged in agricultural pursuits. His paternal 
grandfather was a soldier of the Revolution in the army of Wash- 
ington, and his father was a soldier in the war of 1812. 

The subject of this sketch was reared on his father's farm, and 
after receiving a preparatory training entered the college of 
New Jersey at Princeton, where he graduated in 1836. Subse- 
quently he entered upon the study of law, under the direction of 
Hon. J. W. Miller, formerly United States Senator from New 
Jersey, lie was admitted to the liar in 1840, and commenced the 
practice of his profession in Morristown, in his native State. 

In 1849 Mr. Hager emigrated to California, where he arrived in 
the spring of that year, and for awhile engaged in mining pursuits. 
In the winter of 1850 he became a permanent resident of San 
Francisco, where he resumed the practice of his profession. II" 
soon acquired a large practice, and was recognized as among the 
leading members of die bar. In L852, without his knowledg 
consent, he was placed in nomination by the Democratic party of 
San Francisco for the State Senate, and being urged by a com- 
mittee of citizens to accept he reluctantly consented, and was 
349 



2 JOHN s. iia<; I.R. 

elected by a handsome majority when his colleague on the same 
ticket was defeated. 

In 1855 lie was elected State District Judge for the District com- 
prising the city and county of San Francisco for the term of six 
years. Concerning this portion of his public service an editorial 
writer in the " N' ,\ Fork Herald," said: "In that capacity lie dis- 
tinguished himself by firmness, impartiality, and tine legal attain- 
Judge I lager had to brave the storm of the Vigilance Com- 
mittee in 1856. His character stood so high that not a word was 
uttered to his discredit at a time when few magistrates escaped 
harsh criticism." At the end of his term Judge Hager retired 
from the bench with health considerably impaired by intense ap- 
plication to the duties of his office. He immediately entered upon 
an extended tour in Europe and portions of Asia and Africa, which 
occupied him two j ears. 

During the late civil war he was a firm and avowed Union man. 
In 1865, and again in 1807, he was elected to the Senate 
of California, and as a member of that body voted in favor of the 
Thirteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States 
abolishing slavery. He also proposed the joint resolution in the 
Senate of California to reject the Fifteenth Amendment to the 
Constitution of the United States, and advocated this resolution 
January 28, 1870, in a speech of great learning and eloquence. 
While presenting with much force the injurious results to his own 
State if the proposed amendment to admit Africans to the right 
of suffrage should also be extended to the Chinese, he said: "I 
have no prejudices against this race merely on the ground of color. 
I would think meanly of myself if I stood in my place here to de- 
nounce them because their skins are not as white as mine. I am 
a Northern man — born in a Northern State; was a Union man 
during the war. From the first gun fired upon Sumter I took my 
stand under the flag and by the Constitution. I remain there yet. 
Ri letting the war, Imping and praying it would come to some 
amicable adjustment that might again unite us as a nation, be- 
lieved then, as I do now, that divided we would both fall, but 
350 



JOHN S. HAGF.R. 3 

united we might defy the world. ... If we extend suffrage to the 
African how can we refuse it to the < hinese '. They are superior 
as a race to the African; have maintained a government and at- 
tained a civilization superior to the negro. We, as Californians have 
to meet this question in our own State. We stand here upon the 
extreme verge, the ultima thule, if I may — express it. of Western 
civilization. We can go no further Wesl : todoso, as Father Juni- 
pero said, is to take to the water. Eastern and Western civilization 
meet upon our soil, and we alone have to breast this new influx which 

is now rolling in upon us from Asia. With our new < imercial 

relations witli China, and with steam communication, what will the 
future reveal I Why, sir, China might spare from her surplus popu- 
lation a million of men without experiencing the sensation of a 
vacuum, and in the course of a i\-\v years we may he entirely under 
the dominion of this people. ... Is this mere fancy I Is it more 
improbable that suffrage will be extended to the Chinese within 
ten years than it was ten years ago that suffrage would be ex- 
tended to the slaves of the South ?" 

While in the legislature Mr. llager took a leading position, and 
was at the head of the chief committee of the Senate. He was in- 
strumental in effecting many needed reforms in the civil and crim- 
inal laws. He was known as an " anti-suhsidist " and voted against 
all bills favoring the building of railroads for individuals at public 
expense. In 1ST0, when it was the unpopular side, he voted 
against the bills of the Central and Southern Pacific Railroad 
Companies in the memorable contest which took place to pa-- them 
over the veto of Governor Haight. 

He also took a deep interest in establishing the University of 
California, and was chairman of the joint committee of the two 
houses appointed to mature and perfect the bill introduced and 
finally passed for that purpose. In ISO'S he was elected one of the 
Regents of the University, and continues to hold that position. 

In October, 1ST:?, he was married to a daughter of the late 
James H. Lucas, a prominent and leading citizen of St. Louis, a 
son of Judge John B. C. Lucas, who was born in Normandy, 
351 



4 JOHNS. HAGER. 

France, in 1762, emigrated to the United States, settled in Penn- 
sylvania, and while representing that State in Congress was ap- 
pointed bj Presidenl Jefferson Judge of the United States Court 
in I pper Louisiana, when he resigned his Beat in Congress and re- 
moved to St. Louis in l sll ">, where dnring a long and eventful life 
he ranked among the most marked and influential men in that 
ii of the West. 

Mr. Eager was elected to the United States Senate as an anti- 
monopoly Democrat for the unexpired term of Eugene Casserly, 
resigned. His election was noticed with approval by leading 
journals of all parties. The "San Francisco Examiner" said: 
•• Long ago Judge Hager established a reputation for learning and 
. ri'v. which he illustrated on the bench of the Fourth District 
Courl in this city, and during three terms in the State Senate, 
where he acquired legislative experience of service to him in his 
new capacity. lie has all the elements of success with him and 
within him. "We have no doubt he will make an impression in 
the Federal Senate by his quiet, dignified deportment, his calm, 
judicial bearing, his scholarly attributes, his closely logical, yet 
interesting style of speech in debate, his judicial ability, and his 
familiarity with public affairs.' 1 

A Republican journal, the "Sacramento Daily Union," said: 
"Judge Hager's abilities, culture, educational training, and legis- 
lative experience, quality him to maintain a respectable position in 
the National Senate. In something like six years' service in the 
California Senate, commencing as far back as 1851, be always 
showed great skill, self-possession, and force in debate. "We feel 
no apprehension but that he will prove an efficient and valuable 
ally of the people's cause." 

Mr. Hager took his scat in the United States Senate February 
9, L874. Dining the short time he has been a member of that 
body he has taken a modest but influential part in the debates, and 
devoted himself with energy and faithfulness to the duties of his 
position. 

352 



JAMES M. HARVEY, 



*g§*^AMES M. HARVEY was born in Monroe County, Vir- 
JL|| ginia, September 21, L833. His ancestors for several 
3$?$ generations were Virginians. His parents were among 
the pioneers who made the earliest settlements in Rush 
County, Indiana. They were on a visit to their ancestral home 
when the subject of this sketch was born : hence, although a native 
of the " Old Dominion," he was practically a Hoosier in all save 
" the accident of birth." His parents had a preference for pioneer 
life, and no sooner had the region in Indiana where they lived be- 
come somewhat settled and improved, than they pushed for the 
farther west. They lived two or three years in Iowa, and then 
located in Adams County, Illinois. Thus it came to pass that the 
son received his early education amid the stirring scenes and in the 
country schools of three States. He married in Illinois, and there 
engaged in the business of surveying and civil engineering, lie 
removed to Kansas in 1859, and adopted the occupation of farming. 

At the breaking out of the Rebellion he entered the military 
service of the United States, and from 1861 to 1864 was captain 
successively in the Fourth and Tenth Regiments of Kansas Volun- 
teer Infantry. He served as a Representative in the Kansas Legis- 
lature in 1S65, and again in 1866. He was a member of tl 
Senate in 1867 and 1868. He was elected Governor of Kansas in 
1869, and was re-elected in 1870. He was elected to the United 
States Senate as a Republican, to fill the vacancy occasioned by the 
resignation of Alexander Caldwell, and took his seat February 12, 
1874, for the remainder of the term, which will expire March 
3, 1877. 

" While Governor of Kansas," says a writer, " he had more to 
353 



2 JAMES M. HARVEY. 

do with the conduct of Stat'- affairs than any of his predecessors. 
He was any thing but perfunctory. He s-etoed bills; sometimes 
pardoned criminals, and sometimes refused; sometimes placed his 
veto personally or officially upon movements supported by popular 
cry. Sometimes he has made speeches, though not addicted that 
wav. and is a forcible and terse writer. In the many political con- 
tests in which he has taken part he lias never made a compromise 
for use in a given emergency. A defeat at one time has, contrary 
to the general rule, left him all the stronger for the next occasion. 
His election to the Senate was the result of a very long and hard 
poll, in which he was the only man in the field capable of gaining 
strength steadily through a week of legislative balloting. He has 
a large acquaintance with public men, is a constant reader, and baa 
a memory especially retentive of the ideas and works of others." 
354 






HENEY R. PEASE. 




ENRY R. PEASE was born in Connecticut February 19, 
, vSl .io 1836. His ancestors for several generations were among 
"J^i J^ the most enterprising and estimable citizens of Connecti- 
cut, some of whom were honored with high positions of public 
trust. His father, a highly respectable man of limited means, was 
unable to give him any educational advantages save the rudiment- 
ary instruction of the common schools, and a domestic training in 
habits of sobriety, industry, and self-reliance. At the age of six- 
teen he was thrown upon his own resources, and, unaided, In- 
succeeded in acquiring a thorough academic education. He after- 
ward prepared himself, by a special course of training, for the 
profession of teaching, which he pursued for about eleven years. 
He then entered upon the study of law, and after completing his 
studies was admitted to the bar. 

At the breaking out of the late Rebellion he enlisted as a private 
soldier in the volunteer service of the United States, and served 
through the war. He was promoted to the rank of Captain, and 
participated in the battles fought in the Department of the Gulf. 
He was assigned by General Banks to duty on the staff of General 
George L. Andrews, who commanded the u Corps ePAfrigw." 
While in this position he matured and submitted a plan of i 
tion for the non-commissioned officers of the corps by means of a 
system of regimental schools, which was adopted ; and he was 
charged with the organization and execution of the project. At 
the time of the inauguration of this system of education not more 
than two per cent, of the non-commissioned officers, ami only aboul 
one per cent, of the private soldiers of the corps, were able to read 
or write. When the corps was disbanded over eighty per cent, 
of the non-commissioned officers and fifty per cent, of the private 
355 



2 II E N i: v n. PEASE. 

r- had learned to read and write, besides acquiring the radi- 
an 11! • of arithmetic and geography. 

Mr. Pease was afterward placed in charge of the educational 
interests of the State of Louisiana while under military rule. He 
organized a Bystem of instruction for freedmen and refugees, the 
main features of which have since been adopted by the State in 
her Bjstera of Common Schools. In 1867 lie was appointed, by 
General <>.<>. Howard, Superintendent of Education for the Freed- 
men of the State of Mississippi, lie at once established a plan of 
cooperation with the several educational and eleemosynary insti- 
tutions of the North. Teachers were accordingly supplied, and 
schools established in all the cities and towns in the State, and 
also ii[nin many plantations. As the result of these schools, over 
thirty thousand freedmen were taught to read, and twenty-five 
thousand learned to read and write. He founded the "Tougaloo 
University," which was organized as a Normal School on the 
manual-labor plan. It is now conducted under the auspices of 
the "American Missionary Association," and is one of the most 
flourishing institutions of learning in the South. 

He took an active and prominent part in the political work 
of reconstructing Mississippi, and is regarded as one of the found- 
ers of the Republican party in that State. In 1819 he was elected 
te the etliee of Superintendent of Public Education, which position 
he held for four years. He inaugurated a system of public instruc- 
tion which justly entitles him to rank among the leading educators 
of the country. During his term of office, in addition to his ardu- 
ous official duties, he edited and published the "Mississippi Edu- 
cational Journal," the first magazine devoted to popular education 
ever published in the South. The political consistency, ability, 
and strict integrity which have characterized his public life are 
indorsed by all parties and classes in his adopted State. In 1874, 
a varaiirx occurring in the United States Senate, he was elected, 
li\ the unanimous vote of the Legislature of Mississippi, to fill the 
unexpired term. 

356 



WILLIAM B. WASHBURN. 




f|ff ILLIAM B. WASHBURN was born in Winchendon, 

Massachusetts, January 31st, 1820. His family is of Scotch 
, origin, and liis grandfather was a soldier in the American 

Revolution. After a thorough preparatory training in 
the schools of Ids native State he entered Yale College, where be 
graduated in 1844. He chose a business rather than a professional 
career, and commencing as a clerk soon after graduating, in 1847 
he founded a manufacturing establishment of his own. In 1859 he 
was elected President of the Greenfield Bank. He brought into 
business those sterling qualities which insure success, and was soon 
recognized among the men whose ability and integrity give character 
to the institutions and enterprises of New England. 

Mr. Washburn was at first a Whig in polities, and as such he was 
in 1850 elected to the Senate of Massachusetts. In 1 ^ : > I he svas a 
member of the lower house of the State Legislature. He was among 
the first to identify himself with the Republican party in its incipi- 
ency. In 1862 he was elected a Represenative from Massachusetts 
to the Thirty-eighth Congress, during which he served on the < !om- 
mittee on Invalid Pensions, and the Committee on Roads and 
Canals. Re-elected to the Thirty-ninth Congress, he served on the 
Committee on Claims, and the Committee on Revolutionary Pen- 
sions. He was re-elected to the Fortieth and Forty-first ( !ongr< , 

and served as Chairman of the Committee on Claims. 

It is a remarkable fact that, although during Mr. Washburn's 
chairmanship, this committee reported on more than fifteen hundred 
claims, no report was ever overruled by the House, and all, without 
exception, were sustained. The subjects which came before this 
committee were such as required a great amount of patient investi- 
gation, which Mr. Washburn faithfully bestowed. The unexampled 
357 



2 WILLIAM B. WASHBURN. 

unanimity with which bis reports were sustained was an emphatic 
recognition by the House of his industry and faithfulness in an un- 
inviting but useful field of legislative labor. 

Mr. Washburn seldom occupied the time (if the House with re- 
marks, although he occasionally made brief and pertinent speeches 
on subjects relating to pending claims, taxation, and finance. By his 
lies and his votes he uniformly opposed monopolies, and favored 
legislation in the interests of the people. In February, 1868, he 
made- a speech opposing the further extension of a patent for screw- 
machinery, for the benefit of the American Screw Company, which he 
described as "one of the greatest monopolies this country has ever 
seen, affecting every manufacturer, mechanic, and farmer in the 
land." His integrity as a legislator is illuminated by the fact that 
although himself a large dealer in lumber, he opposed a proposition 
to exempt that article from tax, maintaining that it was " a mistake 
to say that there is any argument that will apply to lumber that 
will not apply to other necessaries of life." 

Mr. Washburn was re-elected to the Forty-second Congress, and 
entered upon his duties, hut resigned December 25th, 1871, t<> ac- 
cept the office of Governor of Massachusetts, to which he had been 
elected. Re-elected Governor in 1S72 and 1S73, his administration 
was as useful to the Commonwealth as it was honorable to himself, 
and the party from which he was chosen. 

Mr. Washburn was elected by the Legislature of Massachusetts 
to lill the vacancy in the United States Senate, occasioned by the 

death of Charles Su er,and resigned the governorship April 29th, 

1874, to enter upon the duties of that position, which he occupied 
during nearly half of the period of the Forty-third Congress. It 
i- a curious and interesting fact that he has been a member of every 
Congress since his first election to the Thirty-eighth in 1862, al- 
though meanwhile he was three times elected Governor of Massa- 
chusetts. His service in the Senate, though brief, was characterized 
by faithful service of his constituents and the country. Although 
Ma sachusetts may have had more eloquent and more showy Sena- 
tors, she has never had one who has done the State more service. 



:::,s 








< ( 






AMBROSE E. BURNSIDE. 




m^ MBROSE EVERETT r.ERXSIDE was bom at Lib- 
erty, Indiana, May 23d, 1824. His parents were natives 



:>f South Carolina, and of Scotch descent. They were 
• " . . among the earliest settlers in the Northwestern Territory, 
where the father taught school and studied law, and tin- nearly 
thirty years filled the positions of Judge of the Probate Court and 
Clerk of the Circuit Court. He was highly respected by all who 
knew him for his strict integrity and genial bearing. His fifth 
child, the subject of this sketch, was instructed at intervals at the 
county seminary in Liberty, until he was about sixteen ; after which 
lie took a course at the Beach Grove Academy near Liberty, the 
superintendent of which was the celebrated Quaker preacher, "Wil- 
liam Horton. At the age of eighteen, he received from Hon. < laleb 
B. Smith the appointment of a cadet at West Point, and in 1843 he 
entered the Military Academy. 

In 1847 Bumside graduated in' the artillery, the eighteenth in 
rank in a class of thirty-eight members. He was commissioned 
Second Lieutenant in the Third Artillery, and immediately pro- 
ceeded to the scat of war in Mexico. On arriving at Vera Cruz he 
was put in command of an escort to a baggage train, but before he 
reached the city of Mexico, that capital had been surrendered, the 
war was virtually at an end, and Burnside had no opportunity of 
participating in the active operation- of the armies in the field. 
When the army had returned home Lieutenant Burnside was or- 
dered to Fort Adams, Newport, Rhode Island, where by his social 
qualities and honorable bearing he gained many friends, and laid 
the foundation of that remarkable esteem with which lie has long 
been regarded in the State of Rhode Eland. 

In 1849 lie was ordered to New Mexico to join Bragg's famous 
359 



2 A M B R S E E. 15 UK.NS1D E. 

battery, and was appointed First Lieutenant. As the country was 
IouikI 1. 1 be impassable to the operations of artillery the command 
was reorganized as cavalry. In command of a squadron. Lieutenant 
Burnside performed creditable service against hostile Indians. In 
L851 lie filled the office of quartermaster of the boundary commis- 
sion then engaged in running the line between the United States and 
Mexico. 

During the time of his service in New Mexico Lieutenant Burn- 
side invented a br sh-loading rifle, which was vastly superior to any 

one of the kind then in the service. It was distinguished for the 
facility with which it could be loaded, discharged, and cleansed; for 
its endurance as a serviceable weapon, its accuracy of aim, and its 
length of range. He offered to contract with the government for the 
manufacture of the rifle, and was encouraged by the War Depart- 
ment to expect that his offers would be accepted. Meanwhile he 
returned to his former post at Newport, and on the 27th of April, 
L852, he was married to Miss Mary Richmond Bishop, of Provi- 
dence. 

On the 1st of November, 1853, lie resigned his commission. Re- 
moving to Bristol, Rhode Island, with the aid of leading capitalists 
of the State he built a large manufactory for his newly invented 
weapon, and prepared to complete his negotiations with the National 
Government. Unfortunately the contract was not consummated, 
and alter a few years of struggle and loss Burnside found himself 
compelled to withdraw entirely from the manufacture of arms. He 
then went West and obtained a situation as cashier in the Land 
Department of the Illinois Central Railroad. In June, 1860, he 
received the appointment of treasurer of the corporation at its office 
in New York. 

Politically he was not a friend of the administration of Mr. Lin- 
coln, yet. at the breaking out of the civil war he ardently espoused 
the national cause. On the loth of April, 1861, as he was sitting 
in his office in New York there was handed him a telegraphic dis- 
patch dated at Providence, from William Sprague, the Governor of 
Rhode Island, to the following purport: "A regiment of Rhode 
Island troops will go to Washington this week. How soon can you 
come on and take command '."' lie replied briefly and to the point : 
''At once!" The next morning he was in Providence, received his 
360 



AMBROSE E. BUKNSIDE. 3 

commission as Colonel of the First Regiment of Rhode Island De- 
tached Militia, and immediately 1 imenced the work of organiza- 
tion and equipment. He reached Washington with his command 
on the 20th of April, only four days alter the issuing of the call by 
the President. In the first battle of Bull Run he commanded a 
brigade which did hard service on that ill-fated field, and at last 
covered the retreat and saved the army from utter destruction. 

In the organization of the forces which soon followed, Burnside 
was appointed a Brigadier-General of Volunteers, his commission 
dating August 6th, 1861. In January, 186:2, he was placed in com- 
mand of an expedition to North Carolina. In the face ofgreal ob- 
stacles, and yet with small loss, he captured Roanoke Island, an 
achievement which did much to raise the spirits of the patriotic, who 
had grown despondent from the inaction or ill success of our armies 
in the East. General Burnside's next achievement was the capture 
of Newbern, a success which was immediately recognized in Wash- 
ington by his promotion to tin' rank of Major-General, hi- com- 
mission dating March 18th. The reduction of Fort Macon and 
the occupation of the North Carolina coast and waters north of 
Wilmington was a gain of great value to the National cause. 

After the close of McClellan's unsuccessful campaign in the Pen- 
insula, General Burnside was recalled, and on the 22dof July, 1862, 
be was placed in command of the Ninth Army Corps. lie was 
ordered to Fredericksburg, where he remained until after the defeat 
of Pope in the second battle of Bull Run. The offer of the com- 
mand of the Army of the Potomac was made to General Burnside, 
but lie urged that another opportunity should be given to McClellan, 
and he served under that singularly unsuccessful general during the 
rebel invasion of Maryland. On the 14th of September, 18G2, 
General Burnside fought and gained the battle of South Mountain. 
In this engagement he displayed great skill, and heartily sustained 
by his subordinates, he achieved a victory which was a welcome 
interruption to the continuity of the disasters which had befallen 
the Army of the Potomac. 

In the memorable battle of Antietam, which soon followed, Gen- 
eral Burnside commanded (he left wing of the National force-. In 
that engagement he accomplished one of the most difficult of mili- 
tary teats, carrying a narrow bridge in the face of a resolute enemy. 
361 



4 A M B ROS E E. I! I' UN SIDE. 

At ill.- close of the bloodies! battle-days of the war, September 17th, 
L862, bis command, after performing prodigies of valor, held a more 
advanced position than any other corps of the army. 

On the 7th of November, 1862, General Burnside superseded 
McClellan in command of the Army of the Potomac. He imme- 
diately marched from the Rapidan to Fredericksburg, on the Rap- 
pahannock, intruding to cross the river at that point and move upon 
Richmond. Through some lack of prompt co-operation in Wash- 
pontoon bridges did not reach him until some time after his 
arrival at the river. Taking advantage of Burnside's unavoidable 
delay in crossing the river, Lee concentrated his forces on the oppo- 
and fortified the heights above Fredericksburg. It was not 
until the 1 2th of December that Burnside's army could effect the 
, and on the following day he endeavored to force the Confed- 
erate lines. His repeated attacks, however, were all repulsed, and 
after heavy losses he withdrew his forces, and recrossed the river. 

There had been a lack of hearty co-operation on the part of several 
subordinate officers which went far to account for the failure at Fred- 
ericksburg. Subsequently, learning that some of them were engaged 
in intrigues which would impair the efficiency of the Army of the 
Potomac, General Burnside asked to be relieved of his command, 
and on the 25th of January, 1863, his request was granted. 

On the lGth of March, 1863, General Burnside was appointed to 
the command of the Department of the Ohio, with headquarters at 
Cincinnati. This command embraced the States of Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, Michigan, and Eastern Kentucky, with the prospective 
addition of East Tennessee. Considerable disaffection, amounting 
cases to actual disloyalty, existed in certain parts of this de- 
partment. Dome-tie enemies were busy in attempting to thwart the 
plans of the government, to prevent the enlistment of troops, and to 
give aid and comfort to the public enemy. Foremost among the op- 
ponents of the government in the State of Ohio was Mr. ClementL. 
Vallandigham, formerly a member of Congress, and a Democratic 
politician of some note. His arrest was ordered by General Burn- 
side, and his trial by court-martial, his conviction and banishment 
beyond the loyal lines, had a salutary effect in repressing disloyalty 
throughout the North. 

Early in dune the Ninth Corps was detached from Burnside's 
362 



AM B ROSE E. BURNS IDE. 5 

command, and sent to aid General Grant a( Vicksburg. During 
this ali-cnre occurred the raid of John Morgan, whose bold design 
was to break through the National lines in Central or Western 
Kentucky, cross the Ohio, plunder the southern tier of counties of 
Indiana and Ohio, and either escape into West Virginia, or march 
through Pennsylvania and join General Lee's invading army. This 
expedition was brought to nought more effectually and con 
than any other during the entire war. The capture of the rebel 
partisan and his men was an exploit for which General Burnside, 
his subordinate officers, and his troops well deserved the applause 
they received for their vigilance, persistence, and fidelity. 

Immediately after the defeat and capture of Morgan General 
Burnside commenced his campaign in East Tennessee, for the pur- 
pose of freeing that section from rebel troop-. In this he was suc- 
cessful, and received the thanks of Congress. Late in September 
the Ninth Corps was restored to General Burnside's command. In 
the meantime General Lee had sent Longstreet to Tennessee with a 
strong force from Virginia. General Burnside fell hack to Knox- 
ville, where he was besieged till the beginning of December, when the 
siege was abandoned on the approach of Sherman with a detachment 
from Grant's army. 

General Burnside was then relieved from the command in the 
West, and in January, 1864, was again placed in command of the 
Ninth Corps, to which a division of colored troops was attached. 
The original design was to send this corps to North Carolina, but 
General Grant, now in chief command, required it in Virginia. 
Grant having crossed the Rapidan on the 4th of May, the Ninth 
Corps followed the next day and took part in the battles of the Wil- 
derness, Spottsylvania, and the North Anna. In the subsequent 
operations down to the siege of Petersburg, General Burnside bore 
a prominent part. During the early part of the siege Burnside's 
line- wire close to those of the enemy, and opposite them wa- a 
strong redoubt forming an important part of the Confederate de- 
fence. Burnside undertook to blow up this work by rut 
mine beneath it. This was completed in a month, and explode d on 
the 30th of June. The redoubt was blown up, but the general 
assault which was to follow the explosion was not made, and the 

effort proved a failure. General Burnside s 1 after offered Ins 

363 



q A \l BROS K E. BU RNSI DE. 

resignation, which the President refused to accept, bat gave him 
leave of absence. He was nol again called into active service, ami 
resigned April L5th, L865. 

In 1866, General Burnside was elected governor of Rhode Island, 
and was re-elected in the two following years. In the autumn of 
1870, being in Europe, he was admitted within the German and 
French lines in and around Paris, and ineffectually endeavored to 
mediate between the belligerents. 

< >n the 26th of January, 1875, after a long contest, General Bitni- 
side was elected to the United States Senate to succeed Hon. William 
Sprague, for the term of six years from the 4th of March, 1875. 

364 



NEWTON BOOTH. 



'^j^EWTOX BOOTH was bora in the town of W I- 

foliL 1)ritlge ' New Haven County, Connecticut. His father, 
3T?fj£ Beebe Booth, a native of the same county, is now living 

^f in Terre Haute, Indiana, to which lie emigrated thirty 
years since. His uncle, General Walter Booth, at one time repre- 
sented the Xew Haven district in Congress. Soon after emigrating 
to Indiana, Newton Booth became a student in Asbury University, 
at that time the leading college of the West, having a faculty of rare 
ability, with Bishop Simpson at its head, and including such pro- 
fessors as Larrabee, Tefft, Nutt, and Wheeler. At college Booth 
was noticed as a bright, handsome youth, with more taste for general 
reading than hard study. He graduated with credit in 1846. 

The discovery of gold, which attracted such a vast emigration to 
the Pacific coast, allured him also to the West. Unlike must emi- 
grants of that period, he went to stay. Seeking gold by mure efficient 
means than mining, he engaged in trade. He was very successful, 
and has been, for several years, at the head of a large wholesale liquor 
establishment in Sacramento. AYhile devoted to business, he was ai 
the same time an intent student of political economy, history, and 
general literature. He collected an extensive library, and gave evi- 
dence in his conversation that he was familiar with his books. 

Though not previously prominent in politics, Mr. Booth was, in 
1871, taken up by the people and elected Governor. 

It happened in 1872 and 1873 that the Pacific Central Railroad 
was suspected ofa design to rule the politics of the State. Whether 
the suspicion was well-founded or not, the people thought it was, 
and a new party was organized tor the election of the biennial Legis- 
lature of 1873. This new party called itself Anti-Monopoly, but 
soon changed that name to one given it by its opponents, viz., the 
365 



2 \ E \\ TO N BOOTH. 

Dolly Varden pari}-. Mr. Booth's policy and messages, as Governor, 
were in unison with the views of this party, and he was constrained 
(<> lake the stump in its behalf. He had been a Republican, but his 
opinions did uol always concur with the plans of the " leading men," 
and consequently the Republican organs discouraged his efforts. He 
accordingly went into the canvass relying exclusively on the people 
without respeel to party ties. The result was a victory for the 
"Dolly Vardens." 

Mr. Booth was then spontaneously named as a candidate for the 
position cit' United Slates Senator, to be tilled by the choice of the 
ensuing Legislature, and after a canvass of several days was elected. 
He took his seat in the United States Senate at the special session, 
which began March 4th, 1875. In person he is of medium height, 
with florid complexion. He has an air of energy and enterprise, 
and yet he is mild and undemonstrative in his manner. One of his 
friends, writing of him soon after he took his seat, predicted that 
•• by tin 1 cud of his official term his reputation will be second to none 
in the Senate as a patriotic and sagacious legislator." 

3GG 



B. K. BRUCE. 



^*2- ( Jig . 

^S2P K " BR t T CE was Dorn in Prince Edward County, Vir- 

J©. gil ' ia ' March Ist > ls "• His ,notll <>" was a slave, and he 

,..■.. j lived under the disabilities of the same unfortunal 

<^» ditiou until he was emancipated, as a resull of the war. 

When he was quite young the family to which lie was attached 

moved to Mississippi. After a few years they removed to Missouri, 

where he remained until the beginning of the war. 

Although the laws of the States in which he lived made il a 
crime with heavy penalties to leach colored people even the rudi- 
ments of education, yet, such was the wealth and social standing of 
his master, that he was able without clanger to disregard this un- 
reasonable law, and taught his slaves to read and write. Soon 
after obtaining his freedom, Mr. Bruce went to Kansas, where he 
attended school, sawing wood at night to enable him to pay for Ins 
tuition. His health giving way under this double tax upon his en- 
ergies, he obtained employment on a Mississippi steamboat. I taving 
by this employment accumulated some money, he was able again to 
resume his studies, which he prosecuted at Oberlin College, Ohio, 

which was for many years distinguished as the only instituti f 

its grade in the country where color imposed no barrier to a' 1 mis-ion. 
After pursuing a liberal course of study, Mr. Bruce returned to 
Mississippi, and entered earnestly into the work of reconstri 
endeavoring in every way to promote tin' material and ] 
prosperity of his State. lie has engaged largely in real-estate opera- 
tions, buying up extensive tracts of land, and selling them in 
smaller parcels to colored people of limited means, thus enabling 
them to provide themselves with comfortable homes. 

In 1870 Mr. Bruce was elected Serjeant-at-Arms of the Mis- 
sissippi Senate, when there were only four colored members of that 
367 



2 B. K. BSUCE. 

body. He resigned in 1*71 to accept the office of Assessor of 
Bolivar < lounty. In the same year he was elected Sheriff and Tax 
Collector, and was re-elected in 1873 without opposition. He held 
the office of Civil Commissioner for three years. He discharged 
the duties of these positions with ability and integrity, until his 
election to the Senate of the United States, February 3d, 1874. 
lie entered upon the duties of this high position March 5th, 1875, 
and was appointed on the Committees on Pensions, Manufactures, 
and Education. 

368 



^* #*$. 





ANGUS CAMERON. 




I^^NGUS CAMERON was born in Caledonia, Livingston 
County, New York, July 4, 1826. His father, Duncan 
A. Cameron, and his mother, Sarah McColl, emigrated to 
America from the Highlands of Scotland, the former in 
1800, and the latter in 1805. They were married in 1813, and had 
a family of seven sons and three daughters, — three of the sons be- 
coming lawyers, and two physicians. Angus worked on his father's 
farm during the summer, and attended school during the winter 
months, until he was fifteen years old, when he went to the Genesee 
Wesleyan Seminary at Lima, where he remained two years, and 
then became a student in Temple Hill Academy, Geneseo. A tier 
attendance there of one year, he taught a common school, and then 
returned to the seminary at Lima. After two years' tuition there 
he was employed for some time iu the seminary as a teacher of 
Latin and mathematics. 

He then went to Buffalo, and commenced the study of law in the 
office of Wadsworth & Cameron (an elder brother), where he re- 
mained a year and a half. He then attended the Law School al 
Balston Spa, New York. He graduated in 1850, was admitted 
to the bar in Albany, and immediately returned to Buffalo, when' 
he practiced his profession until 1853. At that time, with three 
brothers, he removed to La Crosse, Wisconsin. lb' gave strict at- 
tention to the duties of his profession, and in a few years became 
recognized as one of the leading members of the Wisconsin bar. 
He was employed as the attorney for several important corporations, 
among others "the Milwaukee and St. Paul Railway, the Southern 
Minnesota Railroad, and the Northwestern Union Packet Company. 
In politics Mr. Cameron was from the firsl a decided Republican, 
and as such he was, iu 1862, elected to the Wisconsin Stat 
3G9 



ANGUS OA MERON. 

The most important question which came before that body was that 
nf bridging the Mississippi l>y railroads. As an advocate of the 
river interesl Mr. Cameron opposed the bridging, and insisted that 
it could be authorized only by an act of Congress, In 1865 he was 
elected to the Assembly, and was re-elected in 1866, serving during 
the second term as Speaker. While a member of the Assembly he 
introduced the first bill to regulate rates for passengers and freights 
on railroads. The bill was referred to a select committee, of which 
Mr. < 'ameron was chairman, and it subsequently passed the House, 
but was defeated in the Senate. In 1870, Mr. Cameron was again 
lii the Siate Senate, and served as chairman of the Judiciary 

C mittee. lie, with but one other Republican Senator, opposed 

the passage of the temperance bill (afterwards known as the Graham 
l,;iv, '. The bill passed, however, and resulted in the defeat of the 
Republican candidate for governor by 15,000 majority. Mr. Came- 
ron was elected to the Senate of the United States, to succeed Hon. 
M. II. Carpenter, for the term of six years from March 4th, 1875. 

Mr. Cameron was married in 1866 to Miss Mary Baker, of Steuben 
County, New York. He has been for many years a member of the 
Protestant Episcopal Church. In 1866 he was appointed by Gov- 

er ' Fairchild a Regent of the University of Wisconsin, and held 

this position until he was elected to the United States Senate. 

370 



ALLEN T. CAPERTON. 



^|M^f LLEX TAYLOR CAPERTON was born &i E] 

JfS^L the ancestral home of his family, near Union, Monroe 
JfpY County, West Virginia, November 21st, 1810. Bis 
^M father, Hon. Hugh Caperton,a widely known farmer and 
stock-raiser, represented the Greenbrier district of old Virginia 
in the House of Representatives, from 1813 to 1815, and died in 
Monroe County, West Virginia, February 9th, Is 17. The son 
attended school in Virginia and Huntsville, Alabama, and was 
subsequently a student in the University of Virginia, and in Yale 
College, graduating at the latter institution when he was twenty- 
two years of age. He was number seven on the list, numb ring 
fifty-three of the graduating class of 1832. He had as classmates 
G. W. Backus, who led the class, and Cassius M. Clay. 

Mr. Caperton studied law with the late Judge Briscoe ('<. Baldwin 
of Staunton, Virginia, a man who was an honor to the judiciary of 
the State. Having been admitted to the bar, and commenced the 
practice of his profession in his native State, he soon became promi- 
nent as a lawyer of the strictest probity of character, clear intellect, 
and sound judgment, and as a gentleman of large and liberal views. 

In early life he took an active and patriotic interest in the en- 
lightenment and material prosperity of the Slate, and in everything 
that would promote her progress. He was a director of the James 
River and Kanawha Canal. 

In politics he was a Whig, and as such he was on several a- 

sions elected a member of the House of Delegates, and of the State 
Senate, his last term in the Senate being from 1859 t" 1 SI »"- 

He was a Union man before the war, and in the Constitutional 
Convention of 1861, to which he was a delegate, he opposed 
371 



2 ALLEN T. CAP E KTON. 

-iun until the actual commencement of hostilities, when he sided 
with his State The Legislature of Virginia elected him a member 
of the Confederate States Senate, in conjunction with Hon. R. M. 
T. Hunter, and he served in that capacity until the collapse of the 
Confederacy in 1865. 

Alter the war Mr. Caperton returned to his old home. Being 
disfranchised, he took no part in polities, but wisely turned his en- 
ergies to helping the people of Virginia to recover, under adverse 
circumstances, from the prostration consequent upon the war. He 
largely aided in bringing the coal, mineral, timber, and grazing lauds 
of West Virginia before the attention of Northern and foreign capi- 
talists, and the general public. 

Alter one of the most stubborn and protracted contests on record, 
Mr. Caperton was elected to the Senate of the United States to suc- 
ceed Hon. A. I. Boreman, and took his seat at the beginning of the 
special session, March 5th, 1875. 

372 




/7-^-r^J -£*_^£^t^<— 



' 



ISAAC P. CHKISTIANCY. 



^ SAAC P. CHRISTIANCY was bom March 12, 1812, 
in what was then Johnstown, Montgomery County, now 
Caroga, Fulton County, New York. His father was a 
poor hard-working fanner, who, when his son was I nit 
twelve years old, was disabled for life by a Log rolling over him. 
From that time forward the support of a large family devolved in a 
great measure upon the son. He worked at fanning, lumbering, 
and various oilier industries, until by close application at school 
during the winter, and by devoting his evenings to study, he became 
competent for the position of school-teacher., upon which he enfc red 
at the age of eighteen, in Pleasant Valley, now Rockwood. This 
occupation augmented his opportunities for mental improvement, 
and furnished him the means to attend academies at Johnstown and 
Kingsboro'. At the age of twenty-one lie went to Ovid, Seneca 
County, where he taught school, and also availed himself of the 
educational advantages offered by the academy of that place. 

Having determined to make the law his profession, lie entered the 
office of Hon. John Maynard as a student, where lie remained until 

the spring of 1836. He then went to Monroe, Michigan, and n- 

pleted his studies -with Hon. Robert McClelland, since Secretary of 
the Interior. Having been admitted to the bar, Mr. Christiancy 
practiced his profession with much success until his accession to the 
Supreme Bench in January, 1858. 

In politics he was originally a Democrat, hut in 1848, feeling a 
deep interest in excluding slavery from the Territories of the United 
States, he severed his old political ties and finned new associations 
more in harmony with his principles. In that year he attended the 
Buffalo Convention, which, under the lead of Salmon I'. Chase, 
Charles Francis Adams, and others, founded the Free-soil Platform, 

;;< 3 



2 ISA A C P. C il i; I ST I A NC Y. 

and Dominated Martin Van Buren for the Presidency. In 1849, 
contrary to his wishes, lie \va~ nominated by all parties, Democrats, 
Whigs, and Free-soilers, for the Stale Senate, and was unanimously 
elected. For three sessions he occupied this position, lie opposed 
the resolutions rescinding the instructions to General Cass t<> sup- 
port the Wilmot proviso, and continued to protest against the ex- 
tension of slavery. In 1854, Mr. Christiancy was instrumental in 
preparing the plan for the organization of the Republican party in 
Michigan, where, in fact, it was first formed and named.. 

In the winter of 1857 the present Supreme ' lourt of Michigan was 
>l by the Legislature, and Mr. Christiancy was nominated 

as of the judges of that court. In January, 1SG5, the question 

of the constitutionality of the Soldiers' Suffrage Act came before the 
court. He joined with the majority of the court in holding the 
statute void, and wrote an opinion to that effect. But the Legisla- 
ture having held otherwise, and admitted members elected by the 
votes of soldiers in the field, became to some extent hostile to the 
court. The more influential of the Republican papers, however, 
sustained Judge Christiancy, and as an election was to be held in 
April, 1865, to fill his place upon the bench, he was again nomi- 
nated by the Republican Convention. The Democratic Convention 
resolved to nominate no one against him, and he was unanimously 
elected. In L 873 both parties, in separate conventions, nominated 
him, and he was again honored with a unanimous re-election. 

On the 21st of January, 1875, Judge Christiancy, without seek- 
ing the office, was elected to the Senate of the United States by a 
combination of Republican and Democratic votes over Hon. Zacha- 
riah Chandler. Taking his seat at the special session in March, 
1875, he was appointed on the Committees on Claims, Revision of 
the Laws, and Territories. 



374 




' 




I 



FRANCIS M. COCKEELL. 




';• RANCIS MARION COCKRELL was bom in Johnson 
County, Missouri, October 1st, 1834. He was reared on a 
farm, and was educated at the common schools until I 550 
when he entered Chapel Hill College, in Lafayette < iounty, 

Missouri, where lie graduated in 1853. He studied law, and having 
been admitted to the bar at the ago of twenty-one, he located in 
Warrensburg, for the practice of his profession. He was a Demo- 
crat, but desiring to devote himself exclusively to his profession, lie 
always declined solicitations to become a candidate for office. 

In 1861 the Legislature of Missouri, sympathizing with the 
Southern States, with a view to aiding the Confederacy, provided 
for the organization of-the Missouri State Guard. Mr. Cockrell 
went into this service in June, 1861, as a private, and was soon 
after elected Captain. During the six months, for which he was 
enlisted, he participated in the battles of Carthage, Wilson ( Ireek, 
and Lexington. He subsequently entered the regular Confederate 

service, and was commissioned as Captain in the Si id Regiment 

of Missouri Infantry. lie participated in the battle of Pea Ridge; 
then with his regiment under Price and Van Dora, lie crossed to 
the east side of the Mississippi and proceeded to < lorinth. 

In May, 1862, Cockrell was elected Lieutenant-Colonel of the 
Second Missouri, and a month later he was promoted to the Colo- 
nelcy. He participated in the battle of luka; (ought at Corinth 
and at Hatch ie. He was with Pemberton's army in it< retreat from 
Holly Springs to Grenada. Pie took part in the bombardmenl of 
Grand Gulf, and in the battle of Porl Gibson. Me was in the 
battle of Champion Hills, and in the battle of the Big Black. 

He took part in the defence of Vicksburg, ami shared all the 
dangers and privations to which (lie besieged were subjected. Colo- 
375 



2 F RA N C I S SI. OOC K K ELL. 

nel Cockrell had command of Fort Hill, the mosi important and 
conspicuous of the defences of the city. Against this the National 
forces directed their most strenuous efforts. It was the key to 
Vicksburg, and three days after its destruction by the explosion of 
a mine, by which Colonel Cockrell was himself severely injured, 
Pemberton surrendered to General Grant. 

Colonel Cockrell was sent to the Parole Camp at Demopoli.s, 
Alabama, and was promoted to Brigadier-General. After his ex- 
change he was with Lieutenant-* ieneral Polk's army in front of 
Sherman, in his movement from Vicksburg to Meridian, Missis- 
sippi. He joined General Joseph E. Johnston's army near Rome, 

G gia, and was with it in front of Sherman in his march to 

Atlanta. He was wounded at the battle of Kenesaw Mountain. 
He was with Hood's army on its march in the rear of Atlanta into 
Tennessee. He was in the battle of Alatoona, October 5th, 1864, 
and in that of Tilton, Georgia, on the 13th of the same month. He 
participated in the battle of Franklin, where he was three times 
wounded. On the transfer of Hood's army from Mississippi to 
North Carolina, General Cockrell was, in February, 1865, left at 
Mobile in command of French's Division, and was captured on the 
evening of April 9th, 1805, the day of Lee's surrender. He was 
sent as a prisoner to Fort Gaines, on Dauphin Island, and was 
paroled on the 14th of May, 18G5. 

The war having closed, he returned to his home in Warrensburg, 
Missouri, and resumed the practice of his profession. In 1874 he 
was a candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor of 
Missouri, and was defeated in the convention by one-sixth of a 
vote by Hon. Charles Hardin, the present Governor. 

In January, 1875, he was elected, by the unanimous vote of his 
party in the Legislature, to the United States Senate, to succeed 
Hon. Carl Schurz, for the term of six years from March 4th, 1875. 
Taking his seat in that body at the special session, he was ap- 
pointed on the Committees on Military Affairs, Claims, and Missis- 
sippi Levees. 

376 



WILLIAM SHARON. 




¥& ILLIAM SHARON was born at Smithfield, Jefferson 
County, Ohio, January 9th, 1821. His parents were 
& Quakers, his ancestors having came to this country with 
William Penn. His early life was passed on \\\> father's 
farm. At the age of seventeen lie determined to work for himself, 
and having an interest in a flat-boat he started with it on a voyage 
to New Orleans. The boat was wrecked at Louisville, and his 
partners cheated him out of his money. Disgusted with his ex- 
perience he returned and worked as a farmer for three years. In 
1842 he entered the Ohio University at Athens, but left it two years 
after and returned to the farm, relieving his labor by reading law. 
He studied with the late Edwin M. Stanton, and was admitted to 
the bar in St. Louis. 

His health failing he abandoned the law, and in Is II ei 
into partnership with his brother in the mercantile business at < !ar- 
rollton, Illinois. Mr. Sharon remained at that place till L849, 
when he emigrated to California and began business at Sacramento. 
The floods of that year swepi his store out of existence, but did not 
quite ruin him, and in 1860 he went to San Francisco, where be 
turned his attention to operations in real estate. He continued buy- 
ing and selling property until 1864, by which time he had acquired a 
fortune of §150,000. In that year the San Francisco Board of 
Brokers was originated. Mr. Sharon then became a speculator in 
Stocks, and in six months lost all his money. 

Mr. Sharon sought employment of the Bank of California, and 
was sent to Virginia City, Nevada, to adjust some outstanding 
claims for that institution. Be afterwards suggested that an agency 
or branch should be established there. Hi- advice was adopted, 
and he was placed at the head of the new establishment. Unlimited 



2 W I I, I. I A M S II A BON. 

powers were granted him, ami lie held the position for many years, 
much to his own credit, ami to the great profit of the parent house. 

Through his shrewdness ami clever management lie had great 
Buccess as a mining-stock operator. He invested largely, ami he- 
cane' ile' acknowledged "kin-; of the Conistock" by reason of his 
many controlling interests in mini- located in that great ledge, and 
in the mills and railroad, which are their necessary adjuncts. He 
has control of eight mines, a large interest in three others, and re- 
ceives, it is said, a revenue of §12,000 per day from his railroad 
extending from Etenoto Virginia City. 

In politics Mr. Sharon has always been a Republican. For a 
number of years he was a member of the council in San Francisco. 
Bis election to the Senate, which occurred in January, 1875, was 
the result of a compromise made between himself and the managers 
of the Republican party in Nevada, two years before. With Hon. 
John P. Jones, he was a candidate then, but agreed to withdraw 
from the contest providing the party would guarantee to elect him 
to succeed Mr. Stewart. This programme was carried out with 
more fidelity than is customary in the political world. 

378 



ROBERT E. WITHERS. 




pf OBEET E. WITHERS was bom in Campbell County, 
Virginia, September 18th, 1821. His ancestors 
among the earliest settlers in Virginia, having emigrated 

from England in the reign of Charles the First. His pa- 
ternal grandfather served in the Revolutionary War, as an officer on 
the staff of General Henderson, in Greene's campaign in the < laro- 
linas. Mr. Withers was educated at private schools and at the I "ni- 
versity of Virginia, graduating in the Medical Department of that 
institution in 1841. He entered upon the practice of hi- profession 
in Campbell County, Virginia, but subsequently removed to Dan- 
ville, Pittsylvania County. lie was eminently successful in his 
profession, soon acquiring a large and profitable practice. In 1846 
he was married to Miss Mary V. Royall, of Lynchburg, Virginia. 

He was a Whig in polities, but never sought office; he, however, 
took an active interest in public affairs, and canvassed his district 
as assistant elector for Fillmore for the Presidency. During the 
agitations which immediately preceded the war, he was an avowed 
Union man, and an open enemy of secession. Pending the election 
of delegates to the convention called to meet in Richmond, i 
sider the question of secession, Mr. Withers took an active part in 
the canvass of his county, which elected the Union candidates by 
over 1000 majority. When, however, it was determined that Vir- 
ginia should secede, Mr. Withers maintained his allegiance to his 
State, and at once went into the Confederate Army as Major of a 
battalion of infantry. In May, 1861, he was made Colonel of the 
Eighteenth Regiment of Virginia Volunteers. He saw the - 
and most active service, and was several times badly wounded. 
Finally, at the battle of Gaines's Mills, near Richmond, he was so 
severely wounded as to be disabled during the remainder of the 
war, and for several years after its close. He was placed on the 
379 



2 IU) BERT E. WITHERS. 

retired list, and was appointed in command (if the military post at 
Danville, which he surrendered to General Wright about ten days 
after the capitulation of Genera] Lee at Appomattox. 

At the close of the war Colonel Withers being physically dis- 
qualified for the active pursuit of his profession, became a candidate 
for Congress, in the fall of 1865, but was defeated. The passage of 
the various reconstruction measures which speedily followed, aroused 
the greatest anxiety and apprehension throughout the Southern State-, 
and leading citizens of all political parties recognized the necessity of 
merging all minor differences of opinion, in the one great object of 
retaining the political control in the hands of the white population. 

In 1866 Colonel Withers accepted the position of leading editor 
of the "Daily News," a political paper just started in Lynchburg, 
Virginia, and for three years devoted his whole time and attention 
to the duties of his position. His paper soon took a leading part 
in directing and controlling the polities of the State, and in organ- 
izing the Conservative party, for the purpose of resisting the aggres- 
sions and usurpations of the Republicans. In 1868 he was nomi- 
nated by the first Conservative Convention as their candidate for 
Governor of Virginia, at the election provided for by the " Under- 

W 1 < ''institution." He entered at once on a most active canvass, 

and traversed every section of the State, urging the necessity of com- 
bining all conservative elements to oppose the adoption of that con- 
stitution by the people. Owing to the hostility thus excited against 
it, the military authorities would not permit the election to be held, 
and Colonel Withers retired to Russell County, where he engaged 
in farming operations. In I860 lie resigned his candidacy for the 
Governorship in favor of Gilbert C. Walker, who was elected. 

In 1872, Mr. Withers was a member of the Conservative Con- 
vention which appointed delegates to the National Convention, and 
opposed the resolutions instructing them to support Mr. Greeley. 

He was chose of the electors for the State at large, and took an 

active part in the < ireeley canvass. The next year he was beaten for 
the Gubernatorial nomination, by Governor Kemper,and was nomi- 
nated and elected Lieutenant-Governor and ex-officio President of 
the Senate. While discharging the duties of this office he was 
chosen United States Senator for the term of six years, from the 4th 
of -March, 1875. 

3S0 



WILLIAM W. EATOX. 




'ILLIAM W. EATOX was bom in Tolland, Connecti- 
cut, October 11th, 1816. Ee removed to South Caro- 
lina, where he spent his youth and early manhood, lie 
studied law, and returning to his native State soon ac- 
quired a large practice and a wide reputation as an able lawyer. 

Having n ived his political training at the feet of Calhoun and 

his coadjutors of the ultra State-rights school, Mr. Eaton took a 
stand in the North as a Democrat of the "straitest sect." lie vig- 
orously opposed the North during the rebellion, taking every occa- 
sion, both in public and in private, to denounce those who in the 
forum or the field were endeavoring to prevent the success of the 
s< cessionists. His speeches were among the most encouraging to the 
Southern cause of any delivered in any of the Northern States. 

He served many years in the State Legislature of Connecticut, 
nearly always being in the minority. In the only two terms in which 
his party was in the majority he was elected to the Speakership. 

In January, 1875, Mr. Eaton was elected to the Senate of the 
United State- for theterm of six years from the 4th of March. 1875. 
On the death of Mr. Buckingham, Mr. Eaton was appointed by 
the Governor to fill the vacancy for the unexpired term ; hence lie 
entered upon his duties in the Senate a few days earlier than the 
other newly elected Senators. 

On the occasion of receiving the nomination for Senator by the 
Democratic caucus, Mr. Eaton returned thanks for the -honor con- 
ferred, and referred to tic position of Senator as next in importance 
to that of President of the United States. He assured his friends 
that he appreciated the responsibilities of the office, and would dis- 
charge his duties honestly, conscientiously, and with a sincere desire 
to promote the welfare and guard the int. rests of hi- State. 

In the special session of the Senate, March 20, 1875, Mr. Eaton 
381 



2 WILLIAM W. EATON. 

addressed the Senate at Home length on the Louisiana question, 
strongly opposing the admission of Pincbback to a seal in that body. 
A considerable part of his speech was devoted to the subject (it' State 
sovereignty. "This government of ours," he maintained, "is not 
a nation; it is a confederacy of nations." Denouncing the doctrine 
thai it is a "sovereign nation," lie said : "Sir, I should disgrace my 
own State, 1 should forget the names of Ellsworth and Sherman, if 
I did not denounce thai heresy. Six times in the convention that 
formed the Constitution of the United States did two Connecticut 
men prevent the word 'National' from going into the Federal Con- 
stitution, and inserted the word 'Federal' instead of 'National;' and 
yet I am told that there are no independent States, and that this is 

one great consolidated empire Connecticut, with six hundred 

thousand inhabitants, is the equal of New York with its five mil- 
lions. God forbid that I, as the representative of one of the smaller 
States should so far forget not only my patriotism but my love of 
the States as to admit that this is a government of majorities. There 
is no greater heresy known on the face of God's footstool than that. 
This is a government of States, — equal States, sovereign States, in- 
dependent States. When it ceases to be a government of that char- 
acter, may it be long after I have laid my bones in the soil near my 
own river!" 




... - . .... 



"<£%< 7?<Jn*^3 



CHAELES W. JONES. 




^HARLES W. JONES was born near Dublin, Ireland, 

^ December 24, 1834. When a child he was berefi of his 
father, who was a surgeon in the British army. With 
his mother he emigrated to America when ten years old, 
and lived four years in the city of New York. In 1848 he wenl 
to the State of Louisiana, where having no resource but his own 
industry, he served an apprenticeship to the carpenter's trade. [ !,• 
removed to Florida in 1854, and for three years worked at his trade. 

The straitened circumstances in which the family was left on 
the death of his father had curtailed his means of education, which, 
in his boyhood, consisted only of a short attendance at elementary 
schools. Subsequently, when working at his trade, he occupied his 
spare hours and his evenings in diligent study. 

In 1857, having, by dint of toil and self-denial, obtained a good 
general education, he entered upon the study of law. Having been 
admitted to the bar in Pensacola, he immediately commenced a prac- 
tice which was at once successful. His business became very large, 
extending to the highest courts of the State, and having to do with 
the most important causes. He was married in 1861 to Miss Mary 
A. Quigley, of Mobile, Alabama. 

In politics he was from the first a conservative Democrat, and 
when the party divided in 1860, he supported Douglas against 
Breckinridge for the Presidency. He was a delegate to the Balti- 
more Democratic Convention in 1872, and in the ensuing campaign, 
being himself the Democratic candidate for Congressman at large, 
In' made a thorough canvass of the State in favor of Greeley tor the 
Presidency. Mr. Jones was defeated by a small majority. 

In 1874 he was elected a Representative in the State Legislature 
from a Republican county. In the contest for the United States 
383 



2 CHAEL ES W. JON] - 

Senatorship the Democrats lacked lour or five votes of a majority 
on joint ballot. After aumerous ballots it was found thai Mr. Jones 
was the only Democratic candidate who could secure the votes of 
the Independent Republicans, who held the balance of power 3 and 
he was elected. 

Taking his scat in the United States Senate at the special session, 
March 5th, 1875, he was appointed on the Committees on Claims 
and Public Lands. Hi- first speech in the Senate was delivered 
March 23, and was an aide argument against the resolution ap- 
proving the policy of the President in reference to Louisiana. 

884 



FRANCIS KERNAN. 



^gJ^RANCIS KERNAN was born at Tyr •. Steuben 

^ a& County, New York, January 14, 1816. His parents 
stf-i) were natives of Ireland, having emigrated to this country 
before their marriage, the lather in 1800, and the moth r 
some five years later. The son of a farmer, young Eernan was 
brought up to assist in the labors of agriculture, occupying his 
winters only in attendance on the district school. In L833 he be- 
came a student in ( reorgetown College, District of < lolumbia, \\ here 
he remained three years, pursuing a thorough course of study, but 
leaving the institution without graduating. 

In the autumn of 1836 Mr. Kernan commenced the study of law 
at Watkins, New York, and having been admitted to the bar in 
1840, he entered upon the practice of his prof— ion in Dtica, where 
be now resides. A thorough knowledge of the law combined with 
excellent natural abilities, and a pleasing facility as a speaker, soon 
gave him a leading position at the bar. 

Mr. Kernan's first official position was thai of reporter to the 
Court of Appeal-, which he held from 1854 to 1857. lb' entered 
political life in 1861, when he was elected a member of th 
York Assembly. The following year he was elected a Repi 
tive in the Thirty-eighth Congress, serving two wars from March 
4th, 1863. He was a member of the Committee on the Judiciary, 
and performed the duties of his position with energy and 
When a candidate for re-election he was defeated by Bon. Roscoe 
Conkling. Mr. Kernan was a member of the Constitutional Con- 
vention of 1867. 

In the exciting campaign of 1872, Mr. Kernan was 
cratic candidate for Governor of New York, against General Dix, 
385 



2 FRANCIS KEKNAN. 

and was defeated by a majority of about fifty thousand vote?. The 
success of the Democratic party in the fall of 1871 threw into their 
hands the election of United State- Senator to succeed Mr. Fenton, 
and Mr. Kernan was chosen for the high position. He is the first 
Democratic Senator from New York in thirty years. He took his 
seal at the special sr,->i,ni in March, 1875. His first speech in the 
Senate was made in that session, and was an able argument against 
the policy of the administration in relation to Louisiana. 




J&htf* 



^>2f 0-fo( 



Joseph e. McDonald. 




OSEPH E. McDOXALPwas born in Butler County, 
Ohio, August 2'.), LSI!). His parents were from Penn- 
sylvania, and emigrated to Ohio in 1800. He lost his 
father when about, two years of age, and in L826 he emi- 
grated, with his mother, to [ndiana, settling in Montgomery County. 
He served six years in an apprenticeship to the saddler's trade. I Str- 
ing his boyhood he had very lew opportunities for attending school. 
At the close of his apprenticeship he determined to obtain an educa- 
tion, and in pursuit of this object he became a student in Wabash 
College, and subsequently in Asbury University) leaving the latter 
institution in the fall of 1840. 

After leaving college lie taught school a short time, then i 
as clerk in his brother's dry goods store, and finally, having made 
choice of his profession, he entered the law office el' Z. Baird, Esq., 
at Lafayette. lie was admitted to the bar in 1843, located in La- 
fayette for the practice of his profession, and was, in the same year, 
elected prosecuting attorney for that Judicial District, lie was re- 
elected, and held the office in all four years. During hi- I 
term he removed to Crawfordsville, where he continued to reside 
many years in the practice of his profession. 

In 1849 he was elected a. Representative in Congress from the 
Eighth District of Indiana, lie was elected as a Democrat, to 
which party ho has always adhered. In the Thirty-first Congress, 
.,'' ! : ;h Mr. McD.mald was the youngest member, the two political 
parties were very nearly equally divided. The long contest for the 
Speakership between the Whigs supporting Robert C. Winthrop, 
and the Democrats supporting Howell ( lobb, was finally decided in 
favor of the latter by a small majority. Mr. McDonald's work in 
387 



2 JOSEPH E. McDO XA ED. 

this Congress, which attracted mosl attention, was the part lie took 
in a contested election case in which he vindicated the right of the 
sitting member. I [e sustained the compromise measures which were 
adopted by thai Congress, and for his vote in favor of the Fugitive 
Slave act was defeated as a candidate for renomiuation. 

At the close of his term in Congress, Mi-. McDonald resumed 
the practice of his profession in Crawfordfville. In 1856 lie was 
elected Attorney-General of Indiana, the first incumbent of that 
"Hire elected by the people. He was re-elected, and during his 
second term removed his residence to Indianapolis, where heentered 
into a law partnership with Judge Roache. In 1864 he was the 
Democratic candidate for Governor against Hon. O. P.Morton, and 
after a spirited canvass was defeated. 

He then gave undivided attention to the practice of his profession, 
in which he has been eminently successful. In his present law linn, 
styled McDonald & Butler, his partners arc John M. Butler, F. B. 
McDonald, his son, and George Butler. They have as large and 
lucrative a practice as any in the State. 

Mr. McDonald has been twice married. His first wile, Miss Ruth 
Buell, of William-port, died in 1872. lie was again married in 
1874 io Mrs. Vance, of Crawfordsville, and her he lost by death, 
February 19, 1875. He is a member of the Protestant Episcopal 
Church, an officer in the St. Paul's Parish, Indianapolis, and legal 
adviser to the diocese of Indiana. 

In the summer of 1874 Mr. McDonald was appointed by the 
Democratic Convention as Chairman of the State Central Com- 
mittee, and in that capacity conducted the decisive campaign of 
thai year, which resulted in the complete triumph of his party in 
Indiana. On the 20th of January, 1875, he was elected to the 
Senate of the United Stales on the first ballot taken in joint conven- 
tion. He took his -eat at the sj ial session of the Senate, which 

convened March 5, 1875, and was appointed on the Committees on 
Pensions, Commerce, and Agriculture. 



388 



samuel j. e. McMillan. 




•AMUELJ. R. McMILLAN was born in Brownsville, 
Fayette County, Pennsylvania, February 22d, 1826. He 

resided, however, during st of his early life in Pittsburg, 

which was the home of his family. His ancestors on the 
paternal side were Scotch, and on the maternal side Irish. His 
grandfather of the same name was a soldier in the Revolutionary 
War. His father was for several years clerk of the courts of Alle- 
ghany County, and this brought the son into such early associations 
as doubtless did much to determine his future profession. Reen- 
tered upon a course of classical studies, and graduated in 1849. 
Meanwhile he prosecuted his legal studies, which wen' begun under 
the direction of Judge Shaler, and were continued under A. \\\ 
Loomis, Esq., both of the Pittsburg bar. 

He entered upon the practice of his profession in Pittsburg in 
1850. During the same year lie married .Miss Harriet E. Butler, 
daughter of Major John B. Butler, of Pittsburg. He practiced law 
in Pittsburg until 1852, when he removed to Minnesota, then under 
Territorial government. He established his residence in Stillwater, 
and at once resumed the practice of las profession, in which he was 
very successful. 

At the organization of the State government in 1857, Mr. Mc- 
Millan was elected Judge of the first Judicial District of Minnesota. 
He remained on the district bench six years and a half, and then 
was appointed Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of Minnesota 
by vjrovernor Miller, to fill a vacancy. In the autumn of 186 I he 
was elected Associate Justice for the full term, and in IsTl' he was 
re-elected. In April, 1*7 1 he was appointed Chief Justice to fill 
a vacancy occasioned bv the resignation of Chief Justice Ripley. 
389 



2 SAM D B L J. It. M c M I LLA N. 

In the autumn of the same year he was elected to the same posi- 
tion for the lull term, which began January 1st, 1875. 

Entering upon his judicial duties at the organization of the State 
he became intimately identified with its growth and progress. New 
questions were constantly arising-, and principles of law were to be 
settled in their adaptation to a new political community. Plis opin- 
ions are published in twelve volumes of .Minnesota Reports, com- 
mencing with the ninth. 

Judicial duties were very congenial to his tastes, and he sought 
nothing higher. Nevertheless, on the 19th of February, 1875, lie 
was elected by the Legislature of Minnesota to the office of United 
States Senator. He entered upon the duties of his position at the 
special session of the Senate, March 5th, 1875, and was appointed on 
the Committee on Privileges and Elections, the Committee on Com- 
merce, and the Committee on Claims. 



390 




fl&^-S /Sa_x-C__ 7>^ 



/ 



SAMUEL B. MAXF.Y. 



^gf^AMUEL B. MAXEY was bom March 30th, 18*25, in 

^Jipk Monroe County, Kentucky. His ancestors were French 
£--=/ Huguenots, who emigrated to America alter the revocation 

y^> of the Edict of Nantes, and settled in Virginia, wh< re for 
several generations they were planters on the Dan River. Both his 
grandfathers were soldiers in the Revolutionary War. I lis father 
was born in Kentucky, and practiced his profession th< re as a lawyer 
many years, but, in 1857, emigrated to Texas, where he is -liil 
living. 

The subject of this sketch received his early education in the pri- 
vate schools of his native State. In 1842, at the age ofseventeen, he 
entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he 
graduated in 1846 as brevet Second Lieutenant. He was assigned 
to the Seventh Infantry, and as war had recently been declared 
against Mexico, he entered at once upon active duty in the Held. 
He served under General Scott in all his operations, from th 
of Vera Cruz to the surrender of the city of Mexico. He was in 
the storming party at Cerro Gordo and Contreras, and for gallantry 
was breveted First Lieutenant. 

In September, 1849, Lieutenant Maxey resigned his commission 
in the army, and commenced the study of law. He was admitted 
to the bar in 1850, and practiced in Clinton County, Kentucky, 
until 1857, when he removed to Paris, Lamar County, Texas, where 
he resumed the practice of his profession, lie soon acquired a large 
and lu'^ptiT"* business in the District and Supreme Court- of tin- 
State. 

He was a Democrat in politics, and in 18G1 was elected l>y 
majority to the State Senate, but the war coming on he de 
to take his seat. In the summer of 1861 he was commissioned as 
391 



2 SA M D E L B. MA X E V. 

Colonel of the Ninth Texas Infantry in the Confederate service. 
His regimen! was assigned to service under General Sidney John- 
ston at Corinth, Mississippi, but Colonel Maxey was himself senl to 
relieve General Floyd at Chattanooga, having been promoted to the 

rank of Brigadier-General, March 7th, 1862, and after the death 
of General Sidney Johnston joined General Beauregard at Corinth. 

While in the Army of To ssee General Maxey was placed in 

command of the corps of observation extending sixty miles along 
tlio Tennessee River, from Shell .Mound to Gunter's Landing. The 
Federal army, under General Buell, was preparing to march across 
the river Tennessee into Kentucky, and it was the duty of General 
Maxey to give the earliest information to General Bragg of Buell's 
movements. The information was communicated on the night that 
Buell began his march. Buell left garrisons at the mouth of Battle 
('reek, Bridgeport, Stevenson, and Huntsville, which were imme- 
diately captured by a force of cavalry and infantry under General 
Maxey. 

In the fall of 1SG2 General Maxey was ordered to Port Hudson, 
where he commanded a brigade during the first siege. He was 
subsequently ordered to reinforce General Joseph E. Johnston in 
front of Jackson. In the autumn of 186.3- he was sent under 
orders from President Davis to the Trans-Mississippi Department, 
where he was placed in command of the district embracing the In- 
dian Territory, and was also made superintendent of Indian Affairs. 
When General Steele began his campaign towards the Red River, 
at his own instance, General Maxey was ordered to reinforce General 
Price in Arkansas. He was promoted to the rank of Major-General 
for services in this campaign, and at its close resumed his military 
and civil duties in the Indian Territory. He subsequently com- 
manded a division, which was disbanded on the 26th of May, 1865, 
among the last of the Confederate forces. 

After the close of the war he resumed the practice of his profes- 
sion, in which he was continuously occupied until his election to the 
Senate of the United States. He took his seat in that body on the 
5th of March, 1875, and was appointed on the ( 'ommittees on the 
Post Office, Territories, and Education and Labor. t 

392 



ALGERNON S. PADDOCK. 



^?5f LGERXOX SIDNEY PADDOCK was born in Glen's 
Falls, New Turk, November 5th, 1830. He is of English 
ancestry, being both on the paternal and maternal side oi 
<^V1 Puritan blood. His father, a lawyer by profession, was 
for many years one of the leaders of the old Whig party in Northern 
New York. Young Paddock entered Glen's Falls Academy at the 
age of thirteen years, and pursued the usual course of academical 
studies until his eighteenth year, lie then turned his (her westward, 
and located in Detroit, Michigan, where he engaged in teaching as 
the assistant of an elder brother, a graduate of Union ( lollege, and 
now a prominent lawyer in New York City. After remaining in 
Detroit eight months, he returned to New York and engaged in 
teaching, at the same time devoting his leisure to the study of law. 

In May, 1857, Mr. Paddock emigrated to Nebraska, and pre- 
empted a farm near Fori Calhoun in that territory. He s after- 
wards took up his residence at Omaha, and became one of the raosl 
active citizens of that town, with whose interests he was closely iden- 
tified for several years. He became one of the editors of the 
"Omaha Republican," performing a large share of the editorial 
labor on that paper during the years 1858 and 1859. 

Mr. Paddock assisted in the organization of the Republican party 
in Nebraska. He attended the lirst informal meetingof Republicans 
in 1859 for the purpose of a permanent organization, and was a dele- 
gate to the convention for the perfection of the work. He was a 
delegate to the Chicago Convention which nominated Abraham 
Lin'' '• : ' ,c,, ;0, but voted for William 11. Seward on every ballot. 
After the nomination of Lincoln he went to New York, and -pent 
three months in work for the successofthe Republican party. The 
newspapers were exceedingly complimentary in their notices ot his 
efforts in the city and the northern counties of the State. 
393 



2 ALGERNON S. PADDOCK. 

Soon after the inauguration of the new administration Mr. Pad- 
dork was nominated for the position of Secretary of Nebraska Ter- 
ritory, at the in.-tance of Secretary Seward, a warm personal friend, 
and was confirmed by the Senate. He entered upon the discharge 
of the duties of this position on the 1st of April, 1861. He attended 
faithfully to business, and during the frequenl absences of the Chief 
Executive, performed the duties of acting Governor. He took an 
active par) in organizing the First Regiment of Nebraska Infantry. 
He obtained orders fi>r organizing two companies of cavalry, and 
afterwards the Second Regiment of Nebraska Cavalry. He bonded 
the Territorial debt, raising the value of bonds from thirty cents to 
par. In 18C4 lie received a majority of votes in convention for 
nomination as candidate for delegate to Congress, but failed through 
a mistake in counting. lie was a delegate to the convention at Bal- 
bimore which renominated Abraham Lincoln for the Presidency. 

He took an active part in the canvass for the organization of a 
Stale government. The nomination for Governor was unanimously 
tendered to Mr. Paddock, but was declined. He was a candidate 
before the Republican caucus for United States Senator at the first 
senatorial election in 18G7, and came within a lew votes of receiving 
the nomination. He was subsecpuently nominated for Representa- 
tive in Congress, but was defeated. He was nominated by Presi- 
dent Johnson fir Governor of Wyoming, and the nomination was 
confirmed at an extra session of the Senate; but Mr. Paddock did 
not enter upon the duties of the position because no appropriation 
had been made to defray the expenses of a Territorial government. 
When Congress met again in December he wrote a letter to the 
President declining the office. 

Subsequently Mr. Paddock devoted his attention to farming, 
manufacturing, and railroad construction, giving very little time to 
politics. On the 22d of January, 1875, lie was elected to the Senate 
of the United States, without the intervention of a caucus, receiving 
;i majority of the Republican votes in the Legislature, and all save 
two of the Democratic votes. Taking his seat in the Senate at the 
special session in March, 1875, he was appointed on the Committee 
on Post Offices and Post Roads, the Committee on Public Buildings 
and Ground.-, and the Committee on Public Lands. 

394 



THEODORE F. RANDOLPH. 




JpHEODORE F. RANDOLriT was horn in New Bruns- 
wick, Middlesex County, New Jersey, June 24th, L826. 



He is descended of Revolutionary slock, and traces his au- 
S cestry back with the famous Virginia Randolphs of Roan- 
oke. His father was a stanch Henry ('lay Whig, who edited ami 
published the " Fredonian" at New Brunswick tin- thirty-six rears, 
and served six years as a member of Congress from New Jersey. 
When a boy the present Senator was accustomed to read proof in the 
office of the " Fredonian," and afterwards became a contributor to 
its columns. In such association he derived valuable instruction, 
and doubtless gained much of that knowledge of men and things 
which has served him so well in subsequent life. 

After a liberal education Mr. Randolph was elected in 1860 a 
Representative in the Lower House of the New Jersey Legislature, 
from the First District of Hudson County, being the first Democrat 
who ever carried that district. lie served in both branches of the 
Legislature of the State for eight years, distinguishing himself for 
his zealous support of the general government during an eventful 
and trying period of its history, and for his uncompromising oppo- 
sition to every species of legislative corruption. In 1867 In- was 
unanimously chosen President of the Morris and Essex Railroad 
Company. The securities of this company advanced nearly one 
hundred per cent, during his administration of two years. 

He was elected Governor of New Jersey after a most spirited 
canvass in the fall of 1868, receiving a majority of 4547 votes over 
John J. Blair, the Republican candidate. Governor Randolph was 
inaugurated in January, 1869, and performed the duties of his im- 
portant office in a most able and efficient manner. Exercising the 
395 



2 THEODOJ1E F. 1IANDOLPH. 

veto power fearlessly whenever it became necessary to defeat corrupt 
legislation, he was prompt to render support to anything coming 
under his province calculated to promote the public good, Hein- 
itiated man)- beneficent measures, including the abrogation of the 
vexatious transit duties upon persons travelling on railroads through 
the State, and ;i stringent bill for the punishment of bribery in elec- 
tion-. " I u short," said a paper politically opposed to him, "his whole 
career as a legislator and Governor proves him to be a sound dis- 
criminating statesman, and a high-toned Christian patriot." 

The official act which attracted most public attention was his 
proclamation of July 11th, 1871, the day preceding the riot in New 
York ( 'ity, assuring the right of parade with full protection by the 
civil ami military power to the Orangemen of New Jersey. The 
effect of this proclamation was to prevent the occurrence in New 
Jersey of such bloody scenes as disgraced New York on that mem- 
orable occasion. 

( rovernor Randolph's official term expired in January, 1872, and 
he was not eligible for re-election owing to the constitutional one- 
term principle which prevails in New Jersey. In 1875 he was 
elected to the United States Senate, and entered upon his duties at 
the special session in March. 

lie is an accomplished gentleman, of fine conversational powers, 
acknowledged ability, and ample fortune — fond of literature, poli- 
tics, and agriculture. His country seat in Morristown is possessed 
of all the essentials of comfort and refined taste, and is said to be 
one of the loveliest in the State. His wife is a daughter of Hon. 
N. D. Coleman, a former member of Congress from Kentucky, and 
a granddaughter of Chief Justice Marshall. 

396 




/^^ ^f^^c^ 



AYILL1AM A. WALLACE. 



^^^ILLIAM A. WALLACE was born in Huntingdon 

*j^ County, Pennsylvania, November 2Sth, 1827. He n is 
educated in Clearfield Academy, and in 1847 commenced 
the study of law with his father. He was admitted to the 
bar when only twenty years of age, and soon obtained a large and 
lucrative business. He devoted special attention to the land laws, 
and obtained a thorough knowledge of the titles in the portion of 
the State where he resided. After fifteen years of close application 
to his profession his health failed, and he entered the arena of politics. 

He was a Democrat, and as such in 1862 he was elected to the 
Senate of Pennsylvania, and held a scat in that body hy successive 
re-elections for thirteen years. He originated the resolution for the 
revision of the civil code; advocated zealously the education of or- 
phan children of soldiers by the State; favored with earnestness the 
passage of a free railroad law, and was identified with all the leading 
measures of legislation which looked to the development of the gnat 
material interests of his State. The general statutes of 187 1 enacted 
to carry out the provisions of the new constitution of 1873 are 
marked by much of his judicious labor. He prepared and carried 
through the general corporation act. of that year, which is regarded 
as the most perfect statute of its character in the country. The law 
for regulating the affairs of cities was also his handiwork. 

On all questions of law his opinion was listened to in the Senate 
with attention, and his influence was powerfully exerted in the modi- 
fication or formation of some of the most important statutes of the 
commonwealth. In the discussion of such questions he uni 
rose above the consideration of mere partisan or local interests, and 
threw the weight of his influence in favor of those measures which 
in his judgment would result mosl beneficially for the general wel- 
397 



2 WILLIAM A. W A L L A C E. 

fare of the State. ITe was always opposed to special legislative 
enactments based upon suggestions of mere expediency, which were 
aimed to meel a present emergency at the expense of a general prin- 
ciple. Such a course undeviatinglj pursued during the whole period 
of his career in the State Legislature won for him not only the 
appreciation of political friends, butgave him the reputation of an 
hones) and faithful public servant throughout the commonwealth. 

In 1865 Mr. Wallace was chosen chairman of the Democratic 
State Central Committee, and in this position, which he held for 
many years, lie displayed the equalities which characterize a success- 
ful party leader. He was elected Speaker of the State Senate in 
1871. He was a delegate to the Democratic National Conventions 
at Chicago in 1864, and at Baltimore in 1872, serving during the 
latter as Chairman of the Pennsylvania delegation. lie was a 
member of the commission of seven to suggest amendments to the 
constitution of 1873, of which commission Chief Justice Agnew 
was chairman. 

Mr. Wallace was the nominee of the Democratic members of the 
Legislature for United States Senator in 1869, but as his party was 
then in the minority, this was but an empty honor. Six years later, 
however, when the relations of the parties were changed, Mr. "Wal- 
lace was elected to that high office, and entered upon his duties in 
the Senate of the United States at the special session which began 
March 5th, 1875. 

In private life his affability and many excellent traits of personal 
character have secured for him the warm friendship of a large circle, 
embracing some of the most prominent names in his own and other 
States. 

398 



WILLIAM PINKNEY WHYTE. 



■»f?ILLIAM PIXKXEY WHYTE was born in Balti- 




more, August 9, 1824. He is the boh of Joseph Whyte, 
whose father, the late Dr. John Campbel] Whyte, was one 
of the United Irishmen of 1798, and settled in Ball 
at the beginning of the present century. His grandfather on the 
mother's side was the distinguished orator and statesman, William 
Pinkney. Mr. Whyte was educated under the tuition of .M. II. 
McNally, one of the most accomplished teachers of Baltimore, who 
had been private secretary to Napoleon the First. In 1842, he lefl 
school, and entered the counting-house of Messrs. Peabody, Riggs 
& Co., the commercial house founded by the Iat< George Peabody. 
Here he remained about two years in the capacity of clerk and 
while diligently discharging his duties, he occupied his leisure time 
in study. 

In the winter of 1842, Mr. Whyte became a student in the office 
of Messrs. Browne & Brune, eminent lawyers of Baltimore. In 
1844 and 1845, he was a student in the Harvard Law School, at- 
tending the lectures of Judge Story and Professor Greenleaf. In 
184G, he was admitted to practice at the Baltimore bar. In the 
following year lie was elected as a Democrat to the Maryland House 
of Delegates. Just before taking his seat in that body he was mar- 
ried to the youngest daughter of Levi Hollingsworth, an eminent 
merchant of Baltimore. In April, 1848, he was appointed by 
John Y. Mason, Secretary of the Navy, to serve as .Indue Advocate 
oi a court-martial for the trial of certain midshipmen at the Naval 
Academy. 

V. M "'._ . :. continued closely in the practice of the law until 
1853, when he was elected < bmptroller of the State Treasury by a 
very large majority. Here he discharged his duties with such 
fidelity, and arranged the details of his office, then n ntly estab- 
lished, with so much ability, that the Legislature of 1856, i - 

399 



2 WILLIAM PINK N i: Y W II X I E. 

trolled by his political opponents, passed resolutions approving, in 
most complimentary term-, the successful manner in which the ob- 
jects of the constitution had been accomplished, and the several acts 
of the Assembly referring to this department had been observed by 
Mr. Whyte. He refused to be a candidate for re-election in 1855, 
and went back to the bar with his accustomed energy and zeal. 

He took little pari in politics, but became so disgusted with the 
mode in which elections had been held in Baltimore, from 1854 to 
1856, that he deemed it his duly to call the attention of the country 
to the violations of the elective franchise in thai city, and hence in 
L857 he consented to be a candidate for Congress in the Third Dis- 
trict, with a view to contesting the right of the member claiming 
the seat under such pretended election. This he did at his own ex- 
pense, and the House Committee of Elections of the Thirty-seventh 
Congress reported a resolution vacating the seat of the sitting mem- 
ber, but finally, after many delays, near the close of the second ses- 
sion, the resolution was lost by a small majority. Nevertheless, the 
publication of the testimony, and the exposure of the proceedings 
at Baltimore, so effectually aroused the people of the State, that the 
next Legislature passed a series of laws which effectually put an 
end to the pernicious practices which had previously thwarted the 
will of the majority in that city. 

Mr. Whyte pursued his profession, from 18G0 to 1868, without 
interruption, save that in 18GG he visited Europe. In duly, 1868, 
upon the resignation of Reverdy Johnson, who had been appointed 
Minister to the Court of St. James, Mr. Whyte was appointed by 
the Governor to the vacant seat in the Senate of the United States, 
which he held until the close of the Fortieth Congress. lie took 
a prominent part in the debates, and defended the course of Presi- 
dent Johnson on several occasions. On his retirement from the 
Senate, in 1869, he received the warmest congratulations from his 
constituents in all parts of the State. The press was outspoken in 
its regrets that his term of service had keen so limited. 

In 1871, .Mr. Whyte was elected Governor of Maryland, and was 
inaugurated January 1, 1872. He discharged the duties of this 
important office in a manner eminently satisfactory to the people of 
the Commonwealth. He was elected to the Senate of the United 
States lor the term of six years from March 4, 1875. 
400 




^ - 



a-S ^ I a c . 



« ( </ 



HESRY L. DAWES. 



ftENRY L. DAWES was born October 30, L816, at Cum- 
, rJ J raington, Hampshire Comity, Massachusetts, among the 
SJ? Berkshire Hills, whose inhabitants and interests be bas 
represented in Congress for more than thirteen years. He is of the 
English yeomanry stock, and the founder of the Massachusetts family; 
was among the early colonists, settling at A.bington, in the eastern 
portion, whence the parents of Mr. Dawes removed to Cummington, 
afterwards settling on a small farm in North Adams. Several 
uncles served in the Continental army throughout the War for Inde- 
pendence, though his father was too young for such duty. 

It was amid these associations and surroundings that. Mr. Dawes 
was reared, attending school in the winter, and working hard, as 
soon as able, on the hill-side farm. At the age of twenty-three he 
graduated at Yale College, having, when he entered, about forty dol- 
lars with which to meet his necessary expenses. When vacation 
he travelled a-foot to the homestead at North Adams, and in the 
same primitive manner returned to his Alma Mater, teaching school 
and working on the farm during vacations in order to obtain D 
Bnfficient to carry him through the collegiate course. 

Leaving Yale, he was soon after admitted to tb 
himself generally to the practice of 1,1 i . diversifying the 

strug-le with urchin- school at intervals and for several years 
iflgUe " Greenfield Gazette." The young lawyer and editor took 

bis position with the Whig pan v. and .lid it g 1 Bervi 

and pen. In lS-tS ho was elected a Representative in the - 
Legislature, and again in 1849 and 185S 



HENRY L. DAWES. 2 

Senator. During this legislative service he was more or less closely 
Bed with the Free Soil movement, being always recognized as 
possessed of decided anti slavery convictions, though, by temperament, 
rate in methods and cautious in policy. In L853 he was elected 
to and served in the State Constitutional Convention, and from that 
time until L857 he was State district-attorney. The Know-nothing 
movement had control of Massachusetts for a season, but during its 
whole career it was steadily opposed by Mr. Dawes. lie was the 
anti-Know-nothing member of the Massachusetts delegation 
when his Congressional career began in 1S57. lie entered Congress 
at the beginning of the fierce and turbulent Lecompton struggle, and 
was a useful ally to the party resisting that iniquity. In the Thirty- 
sixth Congress he was placed on the Committee on Elections, of 
which he was made chairman in the Thirty-seventh Congress, con- 
tinuing to serve thereon until the close of the Fortieth Congress. 

In 1860 he was prominently mentioned as a candidate for Gover- 
nor, receiving a handsome vote in the convention that nominated 
John A. Andrew. In the winter of 1SC1-C2 he was a member of 
the famous Van Wyck Investigating Committee, which was charged 
with an inquiry into government contracts. Mr. Dawes was active 
in the investigation, preparation of the report, and in support of it 
on the floor, proving himself a valuable ally or formidable opponent, 
as the need required. 

Throughout the war Mr. Dawes was an able and faithful supporter 
of the administration, always voting or speaking in behalf of all 
ary measures for the suppression of rebellion and maintenance 
of the Union. Outside of Congress he was an active and efficient 
-tump speaker, always in demand and popular, both from his thorough 
acquaintance with political affairs, men and measures, and his clear, 
logical and attractive mode of statement and argument. His ardu- 
ous labors on the Committee on Elections though important, were 
not calculated to attract as much attention as some other labors 
more closely connected with the stirring events of the time. Mr. 
Dawes was a consistent friend of emancipation, and his votes may 
402 



1IKXUY L. DAWES. 



always be found recorded on thai side. During th 
period, Mr. Dawes, though at times indicating views of a more mod- 
erate character than was generally entertained by the majority in 
the ILmse, recorded his votes on those grave issues with the great 
body of the party of which he is so useful a member. 

During the Fortieth Congress, Mr. Dawes was prominently men- 
tioned for the Speakership of the Forty firsl Congress, but as 
Blaine's candidacy made it impossible to unite 

tions, Mr. Dawes retired gracefully and with honors. He was ap- 
pointed chairman of the Committi n Appropriations, to which 

important duty he brings the conscientious industry and the ■ 
fill, painstaking attention which are marked chara* of his 

public life and labors. It evinces the high esteem in which the abili- 
ties of Mr. Dawes are held at home, thai he was offered by Governor 
Claflin a position on the Supreme Bench of M i icl D i tts. He de- 
clined the honor, preferring legislative to judicial labors. 

In a paper read before the American Social Science A- 
held in New York, October 26, L869, Mr. Dawes discussed "the 
mode of procedure in cases of contested elections." His long 

experience as a member and chairman of the Commitl n Elections, 

extending through ten years, enabled him to produce a most valuable 
paper, which illustrates the strongly non-partisan bias of his mind as 
well as the vigorous simplicity of his style and the 
his statements. 

Mr. Dawes first calls attention to the fact thai by the constitution 
both Houses were made the sole and only "judge of the 
returns, and qualifications of its own members." With regard to 
this absolute power he says : 

"This is a most remarkable power, and has no analogy ; not re 
„,fvb"<bV in that it is supreme, for in every constitutional g 
ment there is a tribunal of lasl r ng somewhere, and of 

course supreme over the subject-matter or the person falling « 
its jurisdiction. But in all Buch tribunals, not only the jurisdiction 
but the constituent parts of the body itself are defined and fixed by 



/ 



HENRY L. DAWES. 4 

a law outside of, and superior to the tribunal itself. It does not pass 
apon its own commission. Yet, in a contested election in Congress, 
the subject-matter and the person falling within the supreme juris- 
diction of each House are the constituents of its own body. Of 
whom the body shall consist, the body itself has absolute power to 
determine. And the power to determine of whom either House shall 
consist, includes thai of determining the political character of that 
House and the fate of measures and administrations, and, it may be, 
of the Government itself. The grave character of this power thus 
becomes apparent the moment it is comprehended." 

Since his occupation of the chairmanship of the Committee on 
Appropriations, a position accorded him by usage as the oldest con- 
tinuous member, as well as by his recognized capacity for the impor- 
tant work needed, Mr. Dawes has made a strong record in favor of 
the utmost economy and retrenchment, making in the House, Janu- 
ary IS, 1870, a vigorous speech which at the time and since created 
a great deal of discussion and criticism. The occasion was on a bill 
transferring the Philadelphia navy yard to League lslund, which 
Mr. Dawes opposed as involving uncalled for expenditure. 

During the Forty-second and Forty-third Congresses Mr. Dawes 
held the important position of chairman of the Committee of 
"Ways and Means. In this most conspicuous position he won the 
approbation of the country, and left his impress deeply on legislation. 

It was a. fitting reward for the long and distinguished services 
of Mr. Dawes in the House that he should be promoted to the 
United States Senate, lie took his seat in that body, as one of 
the Senators from Massachusetts, on the 4th of March, 1875. 
4H4 



*« 



V 



